


Oh, the Humanity!

by ImperfectOrphanage



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-22 03:10:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9579806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperfectOrphanage/pseuds/ImperfectOrphanage
Summary: Joshua finally receives punishment for what he did to Neku and the others.He never expected it to be one year as a human roommate to his ex-proxy.At least the uniforms at Sunshine were cute...





	1. Prologue

It happened suddenly.

Neku answered the door. In retrospect, he shouldn’t have. He should have let Joshua continue knocking and buzzing. But it wasn’t as if he knew at the time how horribly complicated his life would become.

No. He answered.

It took Neku’s brain several seconds to realize who was standing in front of him. He hadn’t seen Joshua since the Game, though he really wanted to. Neku considered Joshua a friend and though he never showed up at Hachiko or the ramen shop whenever the crew did, Neku always thought he was watching.

He felt safe in the knowledge that Joshua was watching over them. He wasn’t sure why.

“Neku~!”

“Uh,” was all he could say. The bastard was standing in front of him with the same outfit he’d worn previously and the same stupid grin. Neku’s mouth moved but no words escaped.

“Aren’t you being rude?” Joshua giggled. He pushed past Neku and entered the small but cozy apartment Neku rented with his dad’s money.

It wasn’t much, but it was home. His father was always away on business.

“My, it’s worse than I thought. No wonder you wear such outdated clothes,” Joshua said, surveying the room with his hands on his hips. “Dear me.”

Closing the door, Neku finally found the ability to speak. “What are you doing here?”

“I need a place to stay.”

Neku blinked. His brain had slowed the minute he saw Joshua and there were so many things he wanted to say and do and yet here he was in reach and Neku couldn’t wrap one cell around a single sentence or action. He stepped forward, clamped a hand on Joshua’s shoulder, and turned him around.

“What do you mean?”

The Composer looked innocent. His eyes sparkled and his mouth made that cute little O shape it did when he was pretending to be off guard.

Wait. No. It’s not cute. Neku, damn, don’t think cute and Joshua together.

“I thought it would be obvious. I need a place to stay. You know, a place to sleep and eat and do whatever it is you humans do.”

Neku narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“And here I thought you would be asking where I’ve been. I’m a little wounded, Neku.”

“Yeah, well, that’ll come later after I’ve decided whether or not to punch you in the face. Why are you here and don’t say it’s because you need a place to stay. If I learned anything,” he paused, sucked in a breath, “it’s never that simple.”

Joshua clasped his hands together. “At least you learned something.”

“Why.”

“Oh, alright. I’ve kept you in suspense-“ Joshua pulled away. “Are those throw pillows? Are you seriously trying to have a modicum of decoration in this hovel? The couch has holes, Neku.”

“Oh, my God, Josh.”

Finally. Finally the bastard sighed and became serious. “Long story short, I was censured.”

Neku didn’t understand what the Hell that meant. His look must have said it all.

“I see it went right over that adorable head of yours. I was censured because, as they put it, I shot you, I tortured your soul, and I shot you again. Not to mention I dragged quite a few people through things I shouldn’t have, and by proxy-isn’t that funny?-I assisted Minamimoto in a few illegal Erasures.”

“Wait,” Neku held his hand up, “you’re in trouble? Like, suspension or something?”

“Oh, right,” Joshua snapped his fingers, “that’s what you people call it. Yes. I was suspended.”

“For how long?”

Joshua looked up to the ceiling, winced at one single cobweb, and frowned. “One year.”

“A year? A whole year?”

“No, Neku, when they said one year they meant six months and five days. Of course, a whole year.”

Fighting the urge to throttle the bastard, Neku clenched his hands into fists at his sides. “So let me get this straight. You don’t come to our meetings. You don’t see me or talk to me or even have the courtesy to text me. You ignore the letters I put at the mouth of the River. You pretend I don’t exist and you expect me to open my damn apartment up to you for a year? Without apologizing or anything?”

“Aw, you wrote me letters. Unfortunately I didn’t receive them. I’m sure Sanae is to blame for it.” Joshua reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone. “Here. I want you to take a look at the text messages screen.”

Neku flipped the phone open. There were no messages from Neku’s phone. “You could have deleted them or-“

“Would I do that?” Joshua pulled the phone from Neku’s fingers. He dropped it back into his pocket. “I have no reason to lie to you. Well, at least now. I did circumvent the truth a few times in Game, but it was for your own good. Do you forgive me for what I’ve done?”

“Is that an apology? It was for my own good?”

Joshua stared at him as if the question was stupid.

“That’s not an apology, Josh.”

“Oh, right,” Joshua tapped the side of his head with a finger, “Sanae told me you wouldn’t think so. Hmm, what was it he said? Tell the kid you’re sorry and mean it.”

Neku shook his head. “I might have changed and the others might have changed, but you’re still an insufferable asshole.”

“I won’t refute it.”

“Well, that’s a start.” Neku sighed. “Why come to me? Don’t you have a lot of money and pins and shit to get your through a year?”

“Unfortunately, no. The High Council was extremely detailed on their list of no-nos. I can have my phone and the use of my UG e-mail to keep in touch with the Game and make decisions, but there is an angelic proxy taking my place for all reincarnations and such. I am not allowed to have the use of my money, my clothing, my apartment, or anything directly related to my Game persona. I have been given paperwork to prove I am a citizen of Japan, and a small bank account of five-hundred credits to be used for starting up my life as a human. It was also demanded of me to be in constant contact with Sanae.”

Neku rubbed the back of his neck. He’d taken a seat in the middle of Joshua’s rambling. “How does he keep tabs on you?”

“My watch has a tracker in it. Sanae will know if I’m in danger or in need of assistance. However, he is not allowed to give me shelter or money. Oh,” Joshua settled down on the couch next to Neku, “the most important rule was, I have to be with you. For an authentic human experience. It’s been so long since I was human…thirteen years…and they want me to be next to someone who has the ins and outs. The angels were quite impressed with your actions in the Game. They’ve actually expressed interest in having you ascended early but I talked them out of it.”

“I guess I should thank you for that at least. I’m not ready to die yet,” Neku said, scooting an inch away from Joshua. “Okay. Lemme see here…you’re here to get an authentic experience?”

“Yep.”

Neku grinned. A terribly cruel and hilarious idea popped into his head and he had to. He HAD to.

“My rent is a couple thousand dollars a month.” He took a pad of paper he had on the worn coffee table and began to write down the different things he paid for-rent, food, transportation, utilities, etc. “You only have, what I assume, is five-hundred dollars. I have bad news for you.”

“Huh?” Joshua stared at the list, mystified. “What?”

He turned to smile at Joshua. “You’re going to need to get a job.”

The shout emitted to the Heavens was loud enough that the dog two floors away started barking.


	2. Welcome to Sunshine!

“Alright, the first order of business is getting you a part time job.”

Joshua was frightened of the concept of work. He had always wanted a job where he got paid to do nothing but he knew the real world was never like that. Getting a job would be difficult since he had no credentials, a mere high school education, and absolutely no work experience. He knew many of the shopkeepers in Shibuya had at least a little experience before being hired by the top brands, and many of them had internships through school to acquire said experience.

Normally, he could call on Sanae as a witness to his talents in art, but he was forbidden to use his Producer and most of his artistic talent had been put on hold the minute he was tuned down to humanity.

“So,” Neku said, casually, “you could get a job at Sunshine. You like their food, right? I checked Mexican Dog but they’re not accepting applications.”

“How did you check? We haven’t left the apartment.”

Neku pointed to the screen of his years old laptop. “You actually apply online these days. It saves paperwork and stuff. There’s also this website that lists available positions in Shibuya and what you need to get the job. We have everything from basic jobs to careers. You only have a high school diploma and no experience so the three places you can work are Sunshine, Mexican Dog, and…well, weird, but Wild Boar.”

“I don’t think-“ Joshua started, but sighed. “Do I look like the type to work at Wild Boar? I barely have any muscle and I enjoy wearing bright colors and very little chains. I suppose Sunshine will have to do for now. It’s unfortunate I can’t work at the WildKat. I would be a great barista.”

“Well, if you fail at everything I’m sure they’ll have to make an exception, but don’t shoot for failure, okay, Josh?”

They were quiet as Neku typed in the information he knew, and Joshua took over when it came to the information he didn’t. It was strange to write down his age and his history, and to copy the information on the cards and paperwork the High Council had given him. Before he hit submit, he shuddered.

“Hey, it’s okay, Josh,” Neku awkwardly put a hand on his shoulder, “I’m here for you.”

Joshua hit the button. “Do you have a job?”

“I’m still in high school, but I help watch kids in the complex sometimes for the women when they need to go shopping. I don’t get paid, but I do get home cooked meals.”

“Oh, right, food.” Joshua glanced at his stomach. “I forgot.”

“Are you hungry? I could warm something up.”

“No, I’m fine for now. Neku, where am I going to sleep? What am I going to wear? Oh,” Joshua feigned fainting with an arm to his forehead, “I haven’t thought this through at all. It seemed so simple in the courtroom and now…oh, dear.”

Neku laughed. “You can wear my clothes. I don’t mind sharing the bed either if you don’t try anything stupid or flirty.”

“I promise. I have no other options. What do humans do in moments like these?”

“Uh,” Neku blinked, “you say thank you.”

“I know that much,” Joshua said with a smile. “How do I make it up to you?”

“I’m not going to keep a tally. In the end of all this mess, maybe you’ll be able to answer that question for yourself. Now,” Neku stood up from the couch, “we should get you some toiletries. You probably don’t want to use my toothbrush and towels.”

“Oh,” Joshua sighed. “I forgot. Human bodies need an incredible amount of maintenance.”

“Yep. Now come on, get up.” Neku offered his hand.

Joshua stared at it. The hand once had a timer burning on the palm. Once, it wouldn’t have been offered to another. Neku’s hand was rough and slightly tan, and Joshua felt strange putting his pale fingers into Neku’s hand. It was warm and gentle.

“Thank you, Neku Sakuraba. I appreciate your friendship.”

“You’re welcome. I just hope we can stay friends by the end of this. It’s gonna be hard, Josh.”

Joshua ignored the perverse comment fluttering through his head. He smiled, stood up, and threaded his fingers with Neku’s when the boy tried to pull away.

“You know, we can’t hold hands in public. People might think-“

“I don’t care what people think. Why should you?”

A soft smile was his response. “You’re going to learn so much about being a person. I kinda can’t wait to see what you go through.”

“I didn’t think you were into torture, Neku.” Joshua pecked him on the cheek.

Time froze. Neku didn’t move.

“Oh, right. You don’t want me doing-“

“It’s fine,” Neku said, waving it off. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Joshua let Neku’s fingers slide through his as they parted. Somehow, in humanity, Joshua could feel the pulse of Neku’s heartbeat and the warmth of his fingers like a brand. He followed behind Neku, pensive, but trusting his partner would make sure he was safe.

\---

Two weeks later, and Joshua had his first job. He was trained by an overly bubbly girl who enjoyed his presence a bit more than Joshua liked. It wasn’t as hard as Joshua thought it would be. He learned to drop nuggets and fries, he learned how to flip burgers, and he learned how to make soft serve cones. The register was for the girls, since psychologically people responded to girls with less of an attitude than they would have boys. But there were days he was allowed to help out.

He hated the outfit at first. It was scratchy and uncomfortable, and it always smelled like grease. Every day when he got home, he took a shower, washed the uniform, and scrubbed his hair until the scent of chicken and burgers faded.

But after the first week, the outfit was comfortable. It was soft, and it fit rather well. He began to enjoy going to work to learn about the people he worked with in between customers. The floors needed mopping at night, and the equipment needed to be cleaned after they closed. Often, Joshua would sign up for the night shift just because he got paid for not dealing with people an hour after his shift.

It was in that last hour, they had the most fun.

There were two girls-best friends-who flirted and teased the others. Once the doors were locked and the manager was in the back counting money, they would play with the water in the sink and end up making not only their clothes wet, but Joshua’s as well.

It was nice to laugh and splash soapy water at the two while they worked. Joshua felt disgusting at the end of a shift. He was sweaty from the cookers, greasy from the air, and tired from being on his feet.

But it was nice. It felt good to have done something manually.

He arrived at home around eleven with a bag of leftovers. Neku was usually asleep on the couch, but he would wake up, eat a little while they shared each other’s day, and around midnight Neku would go to bed and Joshua would be in the shower.

In those two weeks, the world continued to move, and Joshua felt more alive than he had ever been in the thirteen years as Composer.

Speaking of which, Hanekoma had been taking care of things for him. He kept Joshua up to date and the Game continued without a hitch. Joshua felt somewhat unneeded, but being a Composer was less about interacting with the Game and more about being a representative of Shibuya.

“Are you working today?” It was Sunday, and Neku was standing in the kitchen in his pajamas.

Joshua shook his head. He was sitting on the couch watching television while eating left over pasta from one of the women in the complex. Since Joshua had appeared in Neku’s life, the women seemed to be shipping them together. They gave more food than usual and they often asked Joshua to watch the children during the day before his shift. In a few instances, they gave Joshua gifts of clothes, claiming they had been lying around unused.

He wouldn’t have been caught dead in hand-me-downs weeks prior, but the clothes were clean and they fit better than Neku’s did.

“Nope. I thought I’d be lazy today,” he finally answered. “Unless you have plans?”

Neku put the box of cereal he had back into the cabinet. Taking a bite of crunchy wheat, he talked around the mouthful. “I thought we could go out. Y’know, maybe hang out.”

“Really?” Joshua slurped up a couple noodles. He loved cold pasta. “What would we do?”

“There’s a movie out we could go see. I thought we could invite the others. You need more friends.”

Joshua hadn’t thought of the others much since the Game. He had only a little experience with Beat, even less with Shiki, and Rhyme…he only knew her from bringing her soul back to life. He was certain they remembered nothing about him, but what would they think about him?

“Don’t panic,” Neku said. “You went pale. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know how to interact with people. I mean,” he swallowed, “I’m okay with the people at work because we have the job in common.”

Neku leaned against the counter as he ate. “Yeah, but you talk about the things they do when you get home. There’s that one girl who loves teddy bears. The other one who is super excited about anything pink and red. I think you’ve talked about a guy who likes Pokemon cards, and he only needs the gold ones to complete a set.”

“Huh. I thought…I thought that was just talking.”

“No, Josh. That’s being a human. People talk and interact with each other and it’s how we get to know one another enough to make friends.”

“I guess,” Joshua shifted on the couch, “for years I’ve been talking the talk but not actually putting my words into practice. I had no reason to.”

Neku munched on his cereal and shrugged. The light from the window to the small balcony where Neku hung his clothes to dry was casting shadows over Neku’s skin and messy hair. He hadn’t washed yet, and his hair had floofed to one side, with all of the spikes sticking straight out.

He looked cute. Joshua had to admit a lot of the flirting he’d done during the Game was to annoy Neku into slipping up, or just because it was fun. But here, in the apartment, with the scent of Neku on his skin from a shared bed, he saw the beauty in his once proxy. Neku had tiny lines on his face. His eyes were a bit puffy from not sleeping enough, and he had a couple freckles on his left cheek that were only visible in certain light. Joshua was caught by the life in Neku’s eyes. The boy was staring out at the laundry hanging from the line with a pout as he ate.

The spoon went into his mouth, he made a soft humming noise, and he chewed and swallowed. Joshua watched the movement of Neku’s throat. He wanted to continue staring but Neku moved from the sunlight to stand near the calendar on the wall.

“I’ve got a few tests coming up. I might go over to Beat or Shiki’s to study Thursday and Friday. Will you be okay here by yourself?”

Joshua set his bowl of pasta on the coffee table between an art magazine and one about sports. “Thursday and Friday? I’m working from two to eleven.”

“Oh, wow. I think that’s the first time since you’ve been here that we’ll both be busy.” Neku smiled and continued eating until the bowl was empty. He set it in the sink and stretched his arms to the sky. “I’m going to take a shower. Do me a favor and wash the dishes? I don’t want bugs coming in.”

“Sure thing,” Joshua said. He watched Neku enter the bedroom and waited for the shower to squeak on before taking his dishes to the sink. Sighing, he began to run water into a dishpan with a little dollop of soap. Joshua scrubbed with the little brush Neku had hanging on the cabinet handle. It wasn’t hard, being human so far.

What did the angels think he’d learn from this experience? How futile life was because it was school, work, and chores? If anything, he was learning to have relationships but life itself was meaningless to Joshua. After a year was up, what would he do? Would he return to being Composer as if nothing had happened?

He didn’t understand.

“Neku! I’m going to get the laundry from the balcony, okay?”

A muffled, watery gargle was Neku’s response.

Joshua giggled. He shook his head, dried off his hands, and slid the door open to retrieve both Neku and his clothes. The uniform he wore was spotless. It was a good thing Neku taught him the power of baking soda and peroxide on stains. Along with his uniform there were two pairs of Neku’s shorts, a handful of underclothing, and a t-shirt Joshua had worn to bed two nights ago.

In one of the pairs of shorts, Joshua felt something off. He reached in, yelped, and put his finger in his mouth before reaching back in. There was a pin, sitting innocently in the pocket. Joshua turned it this way and that, not understanding how Neku was able to keep a pin from the Game. It was the fire pin most Players received as part of the introductory pack.

Not wanting to cause a problem, Joshua dropped it back into the pocket and put the shorts on top of the laundry pile. He carried the basket into the bedroom and began to get dressed. The shower turned off, Neku sang off-key, and Joshua stood in his lacy underwear in front of a messy closet.

“Gah!”

Joshua turned to see Neku in a towel. He didn’t seem to be upset because of his own nudity. Rather, he was staring at Joshua’s pink underwear and the curve of his hips.

For some reason, it caused a well of heat to rise up to Joshua’s cheeks. He didn’t move.

“S-sorry, I thought you-hey, my shorts,” Neku said, changing the subject as he hurried to the basket, eye contact remaining on it until his back faced Joshua. “Uh, nice panties.”

“Thank you,” Joshua whispered, a little bit more breathy than he would have liked. He had a raging sex drive as a Composer, but most of the time he kept it in check. But as a human…just the sight of Neku’s bare chest and legs, and the feel of his own nudity made him want to pin Neku to the bed. He glanced down at his erection and frowned. “Shit.”

Neku had shimmied into his underwear and shorts. He peered around to see Joshua’s excitement and he laughed. “Oh, oh my. That’s not embarrassing.”

“How do I turn it off?” Joshua stared at it. “I mean, as a Composer I just…didn’t get aroused unless I wanted to but now…I feel all of these emotions. Neku, tell me how to make it stop.”

“I hate to tell you,” Neku exhaled, “but you can’t. You’ve either got to wait for it to go away or do something about it. Wait. Didn’t you ever masturbate as a teenager?”

Joshua frowned. “I was never aroused much as a human. I had better things to think about than putting my penis in things. But yes, Neku. I am well aware of what to do. I just…personally haven’t done it. Usually I have people to sleep with.”

“Don’t look at me.” Neku whirled away. He tugged a shirt on and began combing his hair. “You can use the bathroom if you like. Just don’t make a mess. Use a towel or something. And don’t do it in the shower. It’s a pain to get it off the floor and it clogs the drain.”

“You have experience?”

Neku laughed. “Yeah, Josh. I’m a regular teenage boy.”

“Hm. I suppose I should-“

He touched it. Dear Heaven he touched it.

It felt…different. There wasn’t music to accompany the sexual desire. It was tumultuous emotion and rampant hormones. Joshua barely made it to the bathroom before touching it again.

“Oh,” he whispered.

His reflection stared back at him in the mirror, cheeks flushed and eyes glossy. Joshua had never looked as needy as he did now. He had multiple partners in the UG and RG, and he never let slip how much passion he felt. His mind rolled over the images and he was surprised to find his body responding.

Brushing his fingers down his underwear he whimpered.

Perhaps being a human wasn’t so bad after all.

\---

Neku was fully clothed and busying himself with a little bit of sketching by the time he heard Joshua make a noise of release.

“Oh, fuck yes!”

He couldn’t help but snicker. “You okay, in there?”

A long pause. Joshua finally peeked his head out of the bedroom. “Yes. It’s wonderful, thank you.”

“You’re cleaning it up, right?”

Joshua sighed. “I cleaned it up. I’ll do laundry later.”

“Cool,” Neku said. He continued to sketch. It was weird having Joshua in the apartment, but he kinda liked having him there. Joshua hadn’t been an asshole the entire time after getting a job. Neku thought maybe it was because he was too tired to be one, but at the end of their two weeks together, he realized it was something else altogether.

Joshua was human.

He laughed and talked like a regular boy with the absence of his powers. There were things he didn’t know how to do or remember how to do, but he wasn’t a jerk about it. He relied on Neku to help him, and even if that was the only reason he wasn’t being rude, it was a good reason. It meant Joshua was thinking about other people and his actions toward them. He wasn’t expecting special treatment.

Joshua was just like Neku. Only, not.

“You okay in there?” He called, wondering if Joshua had gotten lost in learning more about anatomy. “Did you need help finding clothes?”

There were no words as response. Joshua simply showed up from the bedroom, gliding into the living room with an outfit Neku hadn’t worn in a year. It was a baby blue sweater and a pair of khaki shorts. Neku wouldn’t have worn the two together since the shorts were so…short…but Joshua worked it.

“Nice. Do you have your wallet and stuff? I thought we could go to Hachiko, maybe grab a soft serve cone, and see if the others want to meet us.”

“Do I look alright?” Joshua fluffed his hair, little curls bouncing around his face. “I’m not going to impress anyone with this human body but-“

“Josh, you don’t have to constantly worry about what people think of you.”

“Says the boy who didn’t want to hold my hand.”

“I’ll hold your hand if you stop being a baby about wearing my clothes.”

Joshua sighed. His attention perked up, though, when he saw Neku’s drawings. “Those are good.”

“They’re just doodles,” Neku argued. He closed the sketchbook and set it down on the couch. “Are you ready to go out?”

“Yep. I have my wallet, my keys, and my partner.”

“Don’t say partner.”

Joshua giggled. “Whatever you say, partner.”


	3. Waiting at Hachiko

 

At the end of the Game, the others had become unimportant to Joshua. He barely knew their names, and he didn’t care to remember them. The only person he had his eye on was Neku, and though the others were instrumental in Neku’s development, Joshua couldn’t have cared less about them.

Until now. He was standing slightly behind Neku as the others joined one by one.

The first to appear was Beat, followed by his sister Rhyme. She was learning how to skateboard and Beat had a rope on the end of it to glide her through the crowd as she learned how to balance. Joshua was introduced to both of them, and though Beat had tried to kill him in the second week, he acted as if he didn’t recognize him.

“Yo, Neku, who’s da prissy kid?”

“Joshua, this is Beat. Beat, this is Joshua. He was my partner in the second week, remember?”

Beat yanked his beanie off, scratched at his blonde hair with hundreds of detestable split ends, and grunted. “Nah, man. I was busy bein’ a Reaper.”

“Nice to meet you, Joshua.” Rhyme held her hand out and giggled when Joshua kissed it. She hopped off the skateboard and wrapped her arms around Joshua in a friendly hug.

It didn’t go over well with Beat. He pulled her away and glared at Joshua. “You ain’t tryin’ nothin’ wit my sister are ya?”

“Of course not, Beat. I’m not interested in robbing a cradle.”

“Why’d you wanna steal a baby for, yo? Dat ain’t right.”

“Uh, Beat,” Neku coughed, “it means your sister is too young for him.”

Beat hummed. “Aight. I like it.”

“Neku!”

Joshua turned to the two girls bouncing up to them. The pink haired first week partner-wait, no, that wasn’t correct. “Hello?”

“Oh my God, is this the elusive Joshua?” Shiki wrapped her arms around his neck. “It’s so nice to meet Neku’s friend. I heard you took care of him the second week.”

“Y-yeah.”

“Hi! My name is Eri! Shiki here doesn’t know how to introduce herself,” the pink haired one said. She grabbed Joshua’s hand and shook it with force. “Nice to meet you. Say, do you know your measurements? I bet you’d rock the dress we’re making.”

“Eri, no.”

Joshua laughed nervously. It was too much attention all at once. “It is certainly nice to meet all of you. Sorry for being late to the party. I was quite busy with…school. Yes.”

“Yeah, school,” Neku teased. “He works at Sunshine part-time.”

“Man, dats cool. I love me a burger.” Beat clapped a hand on Joshua’s shoulder. “Can ya get me a discount? Wink, wink, nudge?”

“If you come when I’m working, I might be able to score you a deal.” Joshua stared at the meaty hand curled over his slender bones. “I work mostly at night, two to eleven.”

“Two to eleven?” Shiki played with her Mr. Mew plush. “Don’t you go to school?”

Joshua frowned. What was it they had talked about?

Luckily, Neku took the attention away from him. “Josh is a genius. He doesn’t go to school because he tested out. Instead of going to university, he’s staying back to get a little money together and decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life.”

Eri put a hand on her hip and grinned. “I bet you’d be great as a model.”

“I appreciate your support. Unfortunately, I’m not one for direct attention.”

Neku snorted. “Yeah. Okay.”

The rest of the conversation went much the same way. What had the others been up to? What were they doing in the weeks to come? Who wanted to eat and where? Were they going to the chick flick or the macho fighting movie? Through it all, Joshua contributed when he could, and made mental notes when he couldn’t.

Shiki, mousy brown hair, wide rimmed glasses, a fondness for green, and a wearer of plain clothes.

Eri, pink hair, tinted contacts, an inch taller than Shiki due to the boots she wore, and a colorful outfit hand stitched with precision.

Beat, blonde hair in need of tender loving care, rough skin covered in healed and healing bumps and bruises from skateboarding, and a lover of chains and all things masculine.

Rhyme, blonde hair in need of styling, most likely hand cut, sweet disposition, an adorable outlook on life, and clothes far too big to fit.

Neku, dear, dear, Neku. He didn’t need to make notes for him, but he did record how Neku interacted with the others. His mouth was curled into the most innocent of smiles and Joshua could see the amusement and hope shimmering in his bright blue eyes.

“So!” Eri clapped her hands to bring focus to the group. “Are we in agreement? The girls will go to the girl movie and the guys can go to their blood fest. Joshua, what do you like? Love and Potatoes, or Slaughter in Shibuya?”

Joshua coughed. “I wouldn’t mind either, actually. I’ve never been one for moving pictures. However, I hear the popcorn is better on the left side of the theatre.”

“Boy movie,” Beat and Neku said in unison.

“Boy movie it is, then.” Joshua stuffed one hand into the back pocket of his borrowed shorts. “Lead the way, ladies and gentlemen.”

They continued to giggle and share moments until they were in the theatre, tickets punched. Waving good-bye for now, they bought popcorn and snacks, and the boys found a seat in the back of the theatre on the top row. Beat was far too excited about the hot dogs, nachos, and popcorn he was gulping down. Neku laughed and pretended to shield himself from the food chowing, and Joshua giggled at the enthusiasm.

He’d gotten a medium popcorn and a large drink. Neku had told him not to get a small one.

Neku had gotten a large drink as well, and a couple boxes of candy along with his popcorn tub. Apparently he liked gummy candy and red licorice.

It was interesting to be between the two boys. The theatre went dark, they went silent, and the previews began scrolling over the screen. Joshua slid his hand over to Neku’s.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Neku whispered. “Are you having fun?”

“I think so,” Joshua whispered back. His phone beeped to ruin the moment. He glanced at the text before turning the phone off. It was just Hanekoma. It was probably nothing important.

The movie started and halfway through, Joshua had decided he should have gone to see the sappy love fest of Love and Potatoes. He wasn’t bored, it was just too cliché. The popcorn was eaten and he’d only drank a little of his soda, and despite Neku giving him a few gummies to eat, Joshua felt his eyes slowly closing in-between a side plot and a massive battle.

He didn’t wake up until the credits. The lights overhead came on and he yawned.

“Aw, man, Prissy! You missed the best part!” Beat rose up, punched the air, scattered popcorn over the floor, and shouted. “Man, there was this robot and this car and they got into a fight in the middle of Shibuya and there were these things. These things, man. You should’a saw ‘im.”

Joshua laughed. He couldn’t help it. Beat was far too cute.

“Yeah, yeah, real descriptive,” Neku teased. He gathered their trash. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes, thank you,” Joshua said, arm wrapping around Neku’s. “Forgive me for falling asleep.”

“I’m not upset. I kinda figured. It wasn’t really up your alley.”

“No, not really.” Joshua sighed. “The popcorn was great.”

Beat chimed in from behind. “Hell yeah it was.”

They joined the girls in the lobby. Both groups talked animatedly about their movies until Joshua was making a story in his head where poor farm workers were piloting mechs to gather potatoes to impress the girls in the neighboring village.

“Dinner time!” Beat said, practically bouncing. “I’mma gonna get me some curry! Y’know, I heard  about this place called tha WildKat.”

“I hear it’s never open,” Shiki said. She was walking arm in arm with Eri. “It’s worth a shot.”

Joshua said nothing. It would probably be a wasted detour, but he needed to walk a bit to stretch his legs and work the popcorn through his stomach. He’d forgotten how bloated a human belly could get.

The Bito siblings walked ahead with Beat pulling Rhyme along on the skateboard. He coached her on how to stand and keep her balance, and when she almost slipped, he’d catch her. Neku and Shiki were behind them, talking animatedly about clothes. Eri was giving input on certain outfits.

It left Joshua in the back, having uncurled from Neku’s side. He watched the others and though he was part of the group, he felt utterly alone. At the end of the year, he would be nothing but a fond, fading memory to the others. He would once again become a Composer, full of power and loneliness.

Would he even get to keep Neku?

The sight of Cat Street reminded Joshua he’d forgotten to turn his phone back on. He did so, and within a few seconds, several calls and twice as many texts came flooding through, all of them from Hanekoma with an SOS on the top. Shit.

“Is it open?” Shiki tried to peek over Beat’s shoulder. “The lights are on, right?”

“Yeah, the lights is on,” Beat said, peering into the window, “but I don’t see no one.”

Rhyme stepped down from the skateboard to pull on the door handle. It came open with a rush of cold air and the group filed into the café. Joshua hung back, reading through the texts and listening to the voicemails despite being in the café where the sender was.

“Excuse us!” Rhyme climbed onto one of the bar stools. “Is someone here?”

In the back there was a clattering of cans and a muffled curse. Joshua could hear Sanae in the room behind the kitchen making quite the racket. He smiled until the scruffy man came to the front with a mussed shirt, a half-buttoned vest, and hair sticking up at odd angles. The man floofed the hair and it corrected itself.

“Oi, you open?” Beat leaned on the counter. “Man, you sleepin’ on tha job? Dats lame, yo.”

“Must’ve forgotten to lock the-oh, heya, Phones, Boss.”

“Hey, Mr. H,” Neku said with a wave. “How goes it?”

“Uh, not well,” he replied, eyeing Joshua. “Aight, what’dya’ll want? It’s late but I got a few things.”

Joshua snuck into the back under the guise of finding the restroom. He detoured the moment he came to a corner and ended up in the storeroom. It wasn’t long before Hanekoma came to join him.

“Why the hell ain’t you answerin’ yer phone?”

“I was busy being a human,” Joshua explained. “We were at a movie theatre.”

“Of course the moment I need ya…fuck,” he grumbled. “I can’t blame ya, it’s their fault for doin’ it. Should’a been me gettin’ punished for lettin’ ya, and them for greenlightin’ yer stupid idea.”

“It wasn’t stupid, Sanae. Now tell me why I’m here?”

“Yo, Josh! I’mma eat yo food!”

Joshua giggled. Hanekoma did not seem amused.

“There’s a bit of a problem, Boss. It ain’t too important but it’s SOS level important. Y’know,” Hanekoma talked with one hand waving through the air and his other curved over his hip, “one of those could be a problem problems. There’s been some pins missin’ and a few rogue Players an’ Reapers. We’ve been dealin’ wit them for a bit but it’s gettin’ worse. Sho’s out there.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have spared him a quick Erasure. What a failure he has become.” Joshua tucked his hair behind his ear. “Do I need to be concerned?”

“Not yet. That tracker in yer watch’ll let me know if they’re close to ya. Speakin’ of which, you gotta pin on you?”

“No, I don’t.” Joshua looked down the hall to the front. “I found a pyrokinesis pin in Neku’s shorts this morning when pulling the laundry down. I’m not sure how it’s there. We took everything from him.”

“Does he know it’s there?”

“If he does, he hasn’t mentioned it.”

“Shit.” Hanekoma fluffed his hair, punched a random box with cup lids in it, and grumbled. “Let ‘im keep it. It might come in handy.”

Joshua nodded. “I should go back. They’ll be worried.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go on.”

He started down the hall to the front. Hanekoma stopped him.

“Wait, how is the human thing workin’ out?”

Joshua glanced over his shoulder. “I’m quite enjoying it, actually. Why?”

“No reason. Just curious.”

“There is never no reason with you.” He smiled and skipped back to the others, happily sliding into the conversation they were having about the food they had and again, the movies they’d seen.

Joshua wasn’t sure when the night ended, but it was between the hours of midnight and four in the morning. He would be able to catch up on sleep, but poor Neku had class in the morning. As soon as they reached the apartment, Neku collapsed onto the couch and fell asleep. Joshua decided to make sure Neku’s uniform was ready and to set out the things he would need in the morning to get ready. He waited up while Neku slept, and shortly before the redhead’s alarm went off, Joshua was cooking breakfast.

It took a grand total of twenty minutes for Neku to rise and ready. He grabbed his lunch and his breakfast-a pancake stuffed with bacon and eggs-and hurried out the door after kissing Joshua on the cheek. The action was obviously automatic. It wasn’t because it was Joshua, but most likely Neku’d had a caretaker in the past he’d kissed with familiarity.

But it didn’t make the heat in Joshua’s heart any less hot.

Neku had kissed him.


	4. These Are the Times That Try Mens' Souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [WARNING: Slight non-con here. If any little tiny trace of this makes you uncomfortable, skip this chapter.]

 

Holy fuck.

He kissed Joshua.

He _kissed_ Joshua.

It must have been obvious he did something because the minute Shiki and Eri came up to him as they walked to school, Eri giggled.

“Wow, Neku, you look guilty. Did you have a late night with Joshua?”

Neku took a large bite of breakfast and shook his head. He didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to think about it at all.

“Oh, Eri, leave him alone. He’s probably just tired.” Shiki tucked an arm around him. “Though, I have to agree that you two are cute. Especially since he’s wearing your clothes.”

“Shut up, please,” Neku finally mumbled out. He adjusted his book bag and took another bite of the pancake roll.

The walk to school only took fifteen minutes, and in between eating and reaching the school, Beat joined them. Neku talked about homework and things they needed to do for the upcoming tests. The two girls giggled and waved as they wandered over to a group of girls talking about cute boys or something else. Neku didn’t really care. It was probably something fluffy.

“An’ then I was all,” Beat punched one hand into the other, “I’mma gonna go to college. An’ my parents were all speechless.”

“That’s good,” Neku said. He was only half paying attention.

Beat trotted forward to stand in front of Neku. “Yo, man, what’s wrong wit’chu?”

“I did something stupid.” He walked around Beat to the lockers in the front of the school. “It was incredibly stupid. I kissed Josh on the cheek.”

“Man, I knew you was tight an’ all, but damn.” Beat dug around in his messy locker. “I mean, ya’lls been doin’ dat for a while, right?”

Neku blanched. “What?! No. Hell no. We just live together.”

“Heh, I don’t believe dat.”

“Why?”

“You’s was holdin’ hands. Even Rhyme saw ya’ll hugging and shit.” Beat brushed his hair out and tossed the beanie into the locker. “He fell asleep on your shoulder.”

“Yeah but,” Neku paused, closed his locker, “we’re just friends. He just likes touching people.”

Beat snorted. “Yeah, he was all over da girls.”

It made sense, oddly. Neku didn’t realize how tuned in Beat was to the people around him. If Beat noticed it, and the girls noticed it, and even Rhyme noticed it, Neku was screwed. What would he do when he got home to face Joshua? Wait. Josh would be at work.

Neku groaned. He picked his book bag up and started toward his classroom. Maybe if he kept his mind busy with math and English he wouldn’t think about Joshua-at least until lunch. It was hard to focus since he was tired. He smiled and patted the friends he’d made in his class and they shared information about their weekends. What did so-n-so do, who did that guy kiss, did you know that one girl has panty pictures online if you know her login for that one website? Neku didn’t really care about the last part. If he wanted to see panties he’d peek at Joshua in the bathroom.

Halfway through class, Neku was fighting to stay awake. He began to doodle in the margins of his notes and he didn’t realize it until the lunch bell rang that he had drawn a rather detailed image of Joshua’s sleeping face. Neku stuffed it into his bag and rubbed at his face. He had to go to the locker area to get his lunch and by that time, the others would be up on the roof eating buns and rice.

The end of school couldn’t come fast enough. Neku wanted to take a nap. He could skip class but he’d miss too much for the upcoming exam.

Luckily, the last hour of school was physical education, and Neku got to play basketball with the others in his class and those from Beat’s class. It was nice to focus on things other than studying and Joshua. He made a basket, the others cheered, and they fought for control of the ball.

Neku hurried after the opposing team, trying to snag the ball from the guy dribbling it across the court to the other goal.

Something felt off. He managed to glance to the side where students were gathered to watch. A lone girl standing in a uniform that wasn’t from Neku’s school was staring at him with black eyes. She lifted her hand and waved at Neku.

“Oi, Sakuraba, look out!”

He tripped, fell over another player, and scraped his knee and cheek. Instead of stopping the game, he shrugged it off and managed to limp after the others until his leg stopped hurting. He chalked what he saw up to exhaustion.

They didn’t win, but the two teams still congratulated each other for a good game. Neku sat on the sidelines wiping at his knee with a tissue, but there were a few bits of rock in the wound. He’d clean it later when he got home.

Beat walked with him. The girls had stayed behind for one of their clubs.

“So, you gonna go home and kiss Prissy?”

Neku laughed. “Yeah, no. I’m not.”

“You know what ya need to do? Make him a nice dinner.” Beat bounced ahead, walking backwards as he talked. “Rhyme says it’d be romantical.”

“You’ve been talking about me?” Neku shook his head. “I’m not taking relationship advice from an eleven year old and you.”

Beat punched him in the arm hard. “C’mon, man. I ain’t got experience but I got a lotta learnin’.”

“I’m sure,” Neku said. “I gotta bounce. See ya, tomorrow?”

“Sure thing!” Beat trotted off down the sidewalk once Neku turned down a street. He got home in record time despite the injury on his leg. Once inside the apartment he took a shower, cleaned the wound on his cheek and knee, and got into a pair of warm pajamas.

It was a perfect night to fall asleep on the couch in front of the idiot box. Joshua would be home around eleven and maybe they’d eat some Sunshine leftovers.

Neku yawned, curled on his side, and fell asleep within the first fifteen minutes of the news.

\---

Work was work, and Joshua was exhausted. He was happy to be headed home despite it being three hours after his official time off. It was inventory time and he’d completely forgotten he’d signed up to help. The manager and Joshua were neck deep in boxes of forks, spoons, lids, and various kitchen stuff for the greater part of the early morning. Thankfully, Joshua was not scheduled the next day so that he could rest.

But because of the hour, the food he usually took home was far too cold. Neku would probably already be in bed, but at least there were a couple leftovers in the fridge.

Shibuya at night was no different from the morning. It was cooler, due to the sun having long left, but the lights were as bright as it was, and the people were just as busy. Joshua stood in the middle of the Scramble for a few seconds just to feel the whoosh of people around him. He couldn’t hear their music, but he could feel their energy nonetheless.

Once he reached the apartment he was surrounded by complete silence. Neku’s apartment complex was on _that_ side of town and aside from a few loser teenagers and a couple rowdy groups of guys and gals, there wasn’t much danger to be had. The neighborhood tended to take care of the people living in it.

Joshua quietly walked up the metal staircase, careful not to make too much noise because of all the sleeping children he knew were in each apartment. He unlocked the door and slipped inside, locking it back before even removing his shoes. Just as he’d thought, Neku was sleeping, but he hadn’t expected him on the couch.

The television was showing scenes from the city and the countryside with the time in the corner of the screen. It would be another fifteen minutes before the morning news would run in English.

On the floor near Neku’s drooping arm was his small laptop, half-drained and displaying a Google search for something hilarious. Joshua tried not to laugh as he picked the laptop up and carried it to the kitchen counter.

_Search Result for ‘how soon is too soon to kiss’._

Joshua smiled. He closed the internet browser and shut the computer down. As he walked past the couch, he touched Neku’s hair. “You precious thing.”

He snored, tucked his head into his arm, and sighed.

A shower was the first order of business. Joshua smelled his shirt and gagged. Removing it and everything else, he tossed them in the basket next to the closet where Neku hid the washer. Once he was done getting clean he would do a load of laundry.

The bathroom floor was cold, and much like the game children played where the floor was lava, Joshua hopped from the rug in front of the sink to the one in front of the bathtub. He sat on a wooden stool and began to scrub the nasty smell from his skin and hair. The smell of mint soap made him wake just a little bit, and he rinsed it off with a touch of cool water.

Neku had begun making noise in the living room. He was probably worried about how late Joshua was and why. The knock on the bathroom door was expected, but Neku didn’t wait for a reply before waddling into the room with a sleepy expression. He came to stand in front of the toilet and he mumbled in dream language as he began to pee.

“Good morning, Neku.”

The boy grunted in response. He continued to empty his bladder even as Joshua slid from the shower to the small, soaking tub.

Joshua leaned back and sighed. The tub didn’t allow much movement. His legs stuck out of the water if he leaned back, and if he sat up they would fit if he crossed them. The water was still soothing to Joshua’s back, though, and he couldn’t complain.

“Mmph,” Neku said, attention on his hands in the sink. “Morning.”

“Neku, dear, it’s four in the morning. You should go back to sleep.”

The teenager rubbed at his face, yawned, and rubbed some more with a towel. “I was getting worried, Josh.”

“Inventory. I didn’t remember signing up for it. But, I have tomorr-er, later today off. Are you feeling alright? Normally you don’t come in if I’m naked.”

Neku turned slowly. His eyes were heavy lidded as he stared at Joshua. “Sorry. I’m just tired.”

“What happened to your cheek?” Joshua only noticed the scrape now because it was on the left side of Neku’s face, and he’d been facing the other way. “Did you fall?”

“I was playing basketball and tripped. I guess I must’ve been tired from the night before because I thought I saw something. It’s stupid, really.”

Joshua folded his arms on the rim of the tub. “Come and sit with me.”

“I’ll get wet.”

“Okay, then come stand next to me and tell me about it.”

Neku laughed. He took a seat on the corner of the tub where there was little water. “I saw a girl.”

“Ooh, was she cute?” Joshua splashed some of the water onto his chest. “Should I be jealous?”

“No, no. I mean, she wasn’t really a girl?” Neku scratched his head. “She had black eyes. It was kinda creepy…standing there waving at me…her teeth were black, too.”

Joshua frowned. “Interesting. You saw a ghost?”

“I don’t know. It’s probably nothing. Hell, if it’s a ghost, she was nice.”

“Hm,” Joshua shrugged, “I suppose it doesn’t matter. Unless you keep seeing her.”

“Hey, Josh?”

He didn’t look at Neku. “Yes?”

“I’m sorry about kissing you.”

Joshua tilted his head. “Why? It didn’t hurt me. We are friends, Neku.”

“Yeah, but-“

“I saw your internet search. How soon is too soon? Adorable.” Joshua giggled and cupped a bit of the water in his hands to wet his face. “If you want to kiss, a Google search isn’t going to give you an answer. You have to ask the person you want to kiss.”

Neku was silent. He fidgeted his hands together in his lap.

“I won’t laugh at you, Neku. You did what came naturally and it makes me feel good that you trust me enough to kiss me. Now,” Joshua attempted to shoo him away, “I need to get out.”

“Maybe,” Neku started, bit his lip, started again, “we could kiss for real.”

Joshua didn’t know what to say. They had only been living together for a couple of weeks and before that he hadn’t seen Neku in months. Even during the Game they didn’t have much personal time, and whatever positive points Joshua had won during his week were forfeit the moment Neku knew he was the one who had put him through Hell.

“I know, it’s too soon,” Neku said quickly. “It’s stupid. Forget it.”

“No,” Joshua whispered. He pushed up from the tub, keeping his waist below the sud line. “We can kiss if you want to. But unless you want more, I’d suggest you let me get some clothing on.”

Neku nodded. He rose from the side of the tub and left the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack.

It didn’t take long for Joshua to towel dry and brush his hair. He dressed in a pair of pink pajamas he’d bought with his first paycheck. The air coming from the bedroom was much cooler and it tickled his neck and chest before he buttoned the shirt.

“Neku?”

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at his toes. When Joshua said his name he looked up, face flushed, eyes darting to the side.

“Hey,” Joshua said softly, “we don’t have to.”

Neku swallowed hard. He flew up from the bed and crashed into Joshua hard enough that they stumbled back into a dresser.

“Ow!” Joshua winced.

He didn’t have too much time to complain. Neku was kissing his mouth with the sloppiness of a child who’d seen far too many movies. Placing his hands on Neku’s arms, Joshua kissed back, letting his mouth control the immature actions of his partner. They tangled together, mouths seeking skin, and Joshua felt a hand sliding up into his shirt. He pushed away.

“No. No, Neku. You don’t want-“

Joshua was silenced by another kiss. He tried to fend Neku off but he was human. He had no more control over his body than Neku did his. Somehow they ended up on the bed and Neku sat on top of Joshua before falling back into a kiss.

“No, you don’t-“

“Shut up,” Neku hissed. “I do want it, you bastard.”

The once Composer yelped as Neku pushed against him. They were both wearing clothes, thank the heavens, but it still felt wonderful. Joshua wanted to stop. He wanted to pull away for Neku’s benefit. It wasn’t supposed to-oh, oh no. No, no.

Stop.

Please.

_Stop._

Neku slid his arms down Joshua’s sides and back up into his shirt. He continued to kiss Joshua senseless and didn’t seem to notice the tears leaking from Joshua’s eyes.

“Please, Neku, ah-“ Joshua pushed against him. “No, I don’t want this.”

The teenager sat up. His eyes were glowing in the light of the streetlamps. Neku was breathless.

“Please, Neku, you’re too young.”

Neku laughed. “Is that what’s wrong? Josh, I’m the same age as you.”

“No, you’re not,” he gasped, “stop that.”

“Sorry, is that teasing you?” Neku snickered as he shifted on Joshua. “Oh, come on.”

Joshua covered his face. “I’m much older than you. I may look like I did when I died but I am not the teenager you think I am. We can’t do this. You aren’t old enough. I’m not-“

Another kiss and another. Neku didn’t listen. He kept pressing close, kissing Joshua’s skin, and quieting his cries to stop. It happened by accident. Joshua whimpered and he tried to push against Neku’s shoulders once more before they were both in need of another shower.

“No,” Joshua whispered. “Neku…”

Neku tucked his head against Joshua’s throat. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I just…I wanted to and-“

“Don’t you dare blame it on hormones. I told you to stop.”

He seemed to be horribly conflicted. His eyes couldn’t focus on Joshua’s gaze and his cheeks were as red as raspberries. “I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

“Neku,” Joshua cupped his face, “look at me.”

Blue eyes caught his. “I’m sorry, Josh.”

“We can’t do this ever again. You…” Joshua didn’t want to call him a child or a kid. It would piss Neku off and instead of understanding he’d probably throw a fit. “You are a strong person, Neku. You are an innocent, strong person and I don’t want you to think you have to do this. I don’t want you unless it’s right. Promise me, Neku. Promise me you won’t do it again.”

“I promise,” he whispered, nodding in Joshua’s hands. “I’m sorry, Josh. I just…I really like you.”

“There are better ways to tell someone you like them than this. You have school in a few hours.” Joshua managed to nudge Neku from his legs. “You need to get cleaned up. We are not going to talk about this. We are in agreement. No more.”

Neku nodded. “I promise. I got carried away-“

“No more excuses, Neku. Now, go and get cleaned up.”

He dumbly wandered toward the bathroom. Joshua felt disgusting in word and deed, and he grabbed a blanket from the end of the bed before taking his soiled clothes off. He wrapped up in the blanket and took his phone from the bedside table. There were a few missed messages and a couple calls.

Dialing Hanekoma’s number, Joshua counted the rings.

“Yeah?”

“Sanae? Can I come over?”

“I don’t think-“

“Please?” Joshua sniffled. “Please, I just need some time away from Neku.”

The pause on the other end let Joshua know Hanekoma understood something was seriously wrong and he finally said, “Yeah. I’ll put some coffee on.”

Joshua closed the phone. He wrote a note on one of Neku’s notebooks for school and-when he realized he couldn’t poof out of the apartment-he cleaned up as best he could and put on the outfit he’d worn two days prior.

Taking his keys and wallet, he hurried from the apartment and across town.

He was a Composer. He was a Composer. Not a child.

Why did it upset him?

He had all the power of the sun and stars at his command when he was fully powered.

Why? Why did Neku doing what he had, even by accident, cause such a pain in Joshua’s heart?

Why did he feel foolish and filthy?

Joshua scrubbed at his face with his hands. He blindly wandered the streets until he got to the WildKat and the minute Hanekoma saw him he was ushered into a hug.

Why? Why was he upset?

Was it humanity? Did humanity make him feel such terrible self-loathing?

“Sanae, I’m sorry,” he whispered, tucking his head into his adoptive father’s chest.

“Kiddo, don’t apologize. C’mon, y’need to sleep. Ya look like the dead.”

Joshua laughed bitterly. “I am dead, Sanae.”

“But yer heart ain’t.”

The words hurt almost as much as the actions prior had. He sniffled, whimpered, and buried his face in Hanekoma’s chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The barista shushed him to quiet and carried him to the back room where there was an old couch and an even older television. He put Joshua on the couch and covered him with a worn, crocheted blanket.

“Get some sleep. Do ya want me to talk to Neku?”

Joshua shook his head. “No. I’m stupid. I led him on.”

The concern on Hanekoma’s face fell into darkness. “What.”

“No, don’t talk to him. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have flirted with him. It was stupid. We were just supposed to kiss and-“

“I’m gonna to throttle ‘im.”

“No, Sanae, don’t. It was my fault. I should have fought back more than I did.”

He could almost hear Hanekoma’s teeth grinding. “What’d he do?”

“I told you,” Joshua sighed, “we were supposed to kiss.”

“And?”

“And…” He wanted to tell Hanekoma it was nothing, but the angel could see through the lie. “Sanae, I’m being a child. Neku and I…we sort of…rubbed together. I didn’t want it and I asked him to stop, but…it was my fault. I should have made him stop. He’s just a kid. He didn’t know any better.”

Hanekoma had gone from soft and loving to the fiery angel of wrath Joshua knew he could be. “Joshua, be honest with me. Did y’tell him to stop?”

“Yeah?”

“Did he stop?”

“No, but-“

“No buts. Did he stop?”

Joshua bit his lip. “It really is my fault. I tease and flirt with him. Neku likes me.”

“I don’t care if the kid likes ya.” Hanekoma sat down next to his hip. “Josh, it doesn’t give him the right to do that.”

“Sanae,” he sighed, exhausted, “I wanted it, but I didn’t want it now. Neku is only fifteen. I do want him but…I don’t want to chain him to me for eternity.”

“Yer not a Composer right now. It won’t do that.”

Joshua closed his eyes. “If you want to talk to him about it, it’s alright. Just…don’t be mean to him. Neku means so much to me. I don’t want this getting between us.”

There was a gentle touch to his forehead by rough hands and the smell of smoke as Hanekoma leaned down to kiss his forehead. “I’ll talk to him. This bein’ human isn’t just a test for you, but a test for Phones, y’know?”

He didn’t say anything in response. Was that what it was? A test?

By the time Joshua wanted to continue talking, Hanekoma had disappeared.


	5. Pins and Problems

Neku had decided not to go to school. Not only was he exhausted, but he couldn’t keep his mind on anything other than the betrayed expression on Joshua’s face. It continued to repeat in his mind with the words of ‘Neku, why?’ over and over until it was all he could see.

There was a shift in the air and Neku didn’t need to look up to know someone was in the apartment with him. It wasn’t Josh. He knew what Joshua felt like and this was different. There was a smoky smell of cigarettes and coffee, and the scent of warm cotton. Neku kept his gaze tilted toward the coffee table even as Hanekoma sat down next to him on the couch.

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. The guilt in his heart was making him feel ill. “Is he mad at me?”

“Oddly, no,” Hanekoma said. He put a hand on Neku’s shoulder and squeezed. “What ya did was way, way wrong, kiddo. He’s upset, but he still likes ya. Why’d ya do it?”

Neku crumbled. He put his face in his hands. “I thought he’d like it. I mean, I accidentally kissed him and I liked it after I thought about it all day and I wanted to show him how much I cared for him and-“

“Hey, slow down,” the barista soothed. “Take a breath.”

He did, several times. “I wanted to make him happy.”

Hanekoma snorted. “I think y’failed there.”

“Yeah.”

“So,” the barista put his arm around Neku’s shoulders, “tell me what happened.”

Neku closed his eyes. He leaned back against the arm and the back of the couch. “I accidentally kissed him good-bye yesterday morning. He was late getting home. I was worried for him, but I fell asleep. Josh always cleans up after work. I was still so tired, but I wanted to talk to him.”

“It’s okay, keep talkin’.”

“We talked about kissing. We both wanted to kiss. Joshua said that if I didn’t want more I shouldn’t watch him get dressed so I left. I was sitting on the bed, thinking about what I could do to prove to him how much he means to me. I’d done research online and I’ve heard people talking at school. I thought…”

He took a breath.

“I thought I was supposed to do it. I wanted to do it,” he corrected, “but I guess Joshua didn’t.”

Hanekoma made a noise in his throat.

“He told me to stop because I was too young. I thought he was teasing.” Neku covered his face with his hands again. “He’s always teasing. He said not to but…it felt good. I knew he liked it but…I thought the only reason he was saying no was because he thought I was just a kid. I wanted to show him I wasn’t.”

“Phones, I hate ta tell ya, but you are just a kid. Yer fifteen. Josh might look like a kid, but his soul is much older.” Hanekoma sighed. “Look. I shouldn’t tell ya about it, but it might make ya feel better. Josh cares for you. It ain’t love. The kid doesn’t know how to love yet. I can say for a fact he wants ta be with ya, but he wants it when yer both ready. Josh…he’s had a lot of heartache. He likes sex, and he’ll have it with pretty much anyone. But what he wants with you ain’t sex.”

Neku dropped his hands to his lap. He stared off into the distance, at a particularly shadowy spot in the corner of the living area. “Yeah.”

“So, c’mon,” Hanekoma stood up and yanked Neku to his feet, “you two are gonna talk it out.”

“No! I can’t!”

“I’ll be in the background. C’mon. Time to adult up.”

He was a little resentful of the comment, since he’d seen so much and experienced much more. Neku felt like an adult already. Again, he tried to tug away but before he knew it, he was in the middle of the WildKat café. At least he’d changed into his school uniform after Josh left.

Hanekoma ushered him into the cramped side room. On the couch, Joshua was sleeping under a warm blanket and his face was almost angelic. The light from the window illuminated the dust in the air, and Neku stood transfixed.

Taking a step, Neku approached Joshua as quietly as possible. He sat down on the worn carpet and put his hand over Joshua’s. “I’m sorry.”

Joshua moaned. He nuzzled the throw pillow beneath his head and opened his eyes slowly. “Neku?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Josh-“

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have led you on.”

“No! I’m the one,” Neku argued, “I’m the one who did it. I should’ve stopped when you told me to. Josh, I feel terrible. I ruined it. I’m sorry.”

Joshua threaded his fingers through Neku’s. “You should be in school.”

“Stop worrying about what I should be doing and think about yourself.”

“What do you mean?” He sat up slightly. “I think about myself a lot, actually.”

Neku huffed. “Yeah, but not…not like that.”

“What I feel is of no consequence. I’m a Composer, Neku. My emotions are second to the emotions and thoughts of my city. You should be in school. I don’t want you to fail on my account.”

“God, this is why it’s impossible to talk to you. Would you stop for one second and think?”

“One,” Joshua said.

Neku wanted to punch him in the face.

“Hey, boys, I’m gonna make breakfast,” Hanekoma called from the front. “Play nice back there.”

Joshua sat up. He uncurled from the blanket and moved over on the couch. His hands smoothed out his shirt and ran through his hair. “Sit down, Neku. The floor isn’t comfortable.”

“This whole situation isn’t comfortable.” Neku did as asked though. He sat next to Joshua. “Look, I’m trying to apologize to you.”

“I don’t need an apology. Neku, you are human,” Joshua said, “and prone to fault. I can no more blame you than I can the stars in the sky. What you did was what you felt.”

“I didn’t think about you,” Neku growled. “I didn’t think about you and it makes me feel like shit.”

Joshua poked him in the arm. “Funny, you feel human to me.”

Again, Neku squashed the urge to hit him. “Stop being an asshole, okay? I know it bothered you. You don’t have to pretend everything is fine. You don’t have to pretend to protect me.”

The words must have reached some portion of Joshua. He stared at Neku for a long moment, eyes blinking every so often. Finally he exhaled. “I wanted it to be special.”

Neku said nothing. He was afraid if he did, Joshua would stop.

“You are my friend. You are the only person outside of the Game I can trust. You said those few weeks were hard on you. I fully apologize for it. What I did was just as wrong as what you did. I had no concern for your feelings or thoughts. I took actions against you because I did not see a person behind the hate and emotional turmoil.” Joshua’s fingers played with the knots in the crochet. “You have nothing to apologize for. I was not clear about my intensions. Neku, I want nothing to get between us. It happened and nothing we say will change it.”

“Yeah, but-“

Joshua’s hand touched Neku’s lips. “You promised me not to do it again. That is all the apology I need from you. Neku, I want us to be friends.”

“Of course I’m your friend,” Neku said. “I care a lot about you. I like watching you grow as a person and I like having you in my apartment. You make it less empty.”

“I watched you grow,” he sighed, “and I am happy in the knowledge you feel the same. Neku, would it be alright to kiss you?”

“Are you sure that’s wise?”

A slow nod. Joshua closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to Neku’s lips. “Never forget how much you mean to me as a friend and a partner.”

Neku smiled. He still felt bad.

From the front of the café, Hanekoma yodeled, “I got pancakes!”

“I love pancakes,” Joshua said. He touched Neku’s face. “You really should be in school.”

“Yeah, I know. Too late now I guess.”

Joshua shrugged. “I suppose we are both delinquents. Sanae! I want hot coffee!”

“Comin’ up, J!”

The energy around them was less tense, but there was still a strain between Neku and Joshua.

Only time would smooth it out.

\---

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into a handful of months.

For Joshua, time had no real meaning. Not only because he was a Composer, but because being around Neku made time stand still. They talked about their interests. They shared meals. Joshua helped Neku study for tests, and Neku helped Joshua with paperwork on the Game.

Between work and school they hung out with friends and often at the WildKat. Joshua had saved up enough money to go shopping for clothes, and though Hanekoma wasn’t supposed to help them out, he gave Joshua a present. It wasn’t technically helping if it was a gift.

It was a Sunday like any other. The two of them sat near Hachiko with a soft serve cone and the conversations of many around them. Neku was playing on his phone and Joshua was simply happy to be sitting next to Neku.

In the crowd, Joshua could still see the Game being played out. He watched a pair of Players dart away from Noise, and he saw a couple Reapers throwing up walls and summoning Noise. Neku was oblivious to it all, and he cheered as he lined up another puzzle piece on his phone.

“It’s been three months,” Joshua said. He licked at the ice cream. “It feels like forever and yet it feels as if we’ve been together for such a short amount of time.”

“Do you feel different, being a human?”

Joshua shrugged. “I can’t quite say. Oh, look at that.”

“Huh?” Neku looked up. “What?”

“The Erasure rate of this Game is good. I don’t see it playing out for the entire week.”

Neku sighed. “Can’t you be normal for once?”

“Sweetheart, I wasn’t normal when I was alive.”

“True,” Neku said. He closed his phone and continued to eat his ice cream.

They sat quiet, licking and biting their sweet treat until both of them had sticky fingers. Neku reached into his pocket for a cloth, and out from the fabric tumbled the pyrokinesis pin.

Joshua watched Neku. He didn’t seem to notice it.

“Here,” he offered the cloth to Joshua, “I don’t think it’ll help much but it’s a start.”

“You don’t see it.”

Neku tilted his head curiously. “See what?”

Bending down, Joshua picked the pin up and turned it in his fingers. “This.”

“No? What is it?” Neku craned his head to try and see what Joshua was holding. “I don’t see anything, Josh. Is this a trick?”

Joshua frowned. He tapped the pin and nothing happened. Either it was because his powers were inert or because he’d never been good with pins. “Open your palm.”

“Okay?” Neku held his hand out.

He dropped the pin into it. “Do you feel it?”

Neku must have felt something. His expression changed the minute the pin dropped. “Holy shit.”

“I want you to try and use it. Obviously, not on anything large. Here, try to set this cloth on fire.”

“But that’d burn you.”

Joshua dropped it to the pavement. “Now try.”

“I’m not going to ask,” Neku said. He rubbed the pin.

A small spark ignited, but it didn’t burn the cloth. The edges were singed a bit and the pin shimmered as the energy Neku used activated it.

“Wow,” Neku whispered. “Holy wow.”

Joshua retrieved the cloth. He curled his hand around Neku’s wrist. “We need to talk to Sanae.”

“Because of a pin?” Neku yelped as he was dragged to his feet. “Hey, what’s this about? Where’d it come from?”

“You didn’t see it? It fell from your pocket. That pin has shown up in every load of laundry I’ve done since two weeks into my stay with you. I thought it was a joke at first, but I figured if you were trying to be funny you would have said something by now.”

“I might kid you, but not about the Game.”

Joshua nodded. He had assumed as much. His fingers squeezed Neku’s wrist and they walked brusquely toward Cat Street. The minute they reached the café, Joshua yanked the door open and pulled Neku inside with a squeak.

The café was empty-as always-but was filled with music and sound. Hanekoma was in the back making a racket of music. He stopped shortly after and appeared in the hall from the stockroom. “Phones! J! How ya’ll doin’?”

Without a word, Joshua took the pin from Neku and dropped it on the counter with the cloth.

Hanekoma frowned. “Shit. It’s true then. I hadn’t gotten reports in a while. Thought it was a fluke an’ the High Council weren’t too concerned.”

“He used it,” Joshua said, letting Neku’s wrist go. “He couldn’t see it until I gave it to him but he used it without difficulty.”

Neku glanced from Joshua to Hanekoma and back. “What? What’s it mean?”

“It means,” he nudged the pin, “that we are in for a little fun. Say, Neku, would you like to play a Game with me? I promise I won’t shoot you this time.”

The look on Neku’s face was priceless. Joshua wished he could take a picture of it and frame it on the wall of the apartment, but Neku would probably slap him.

“I don’t think I want to,” Neku finally answered. “Shit. Why are you two always dragging me into your messes?”

“Do you want an answer?” Joshua teased. “No? I thought not. Sanae, would you be a dear and contact the High Council? Neku and I are going on a little mission.”

Neku frowned. “What mission?”

“We are going on an Easter egg hunt. Only the eggs are pins.”

“I’m not going to like this am I?”

Joshua giggled. He put an arm around Neku. “I’m sure you’ll love it. Especially since there is no dying involved. Sanae, I am going to need a phone upgrade. You know, your tracking program? I want it to search the RG for pin energy.”

“Right’o, Boss. I’ll get on it. Gimme yer phones, kids.”

They handed them over, and Hanekoma disappeared into the back. Joshua took the moment to go around the counter to wash his hands of the sticky ice cream residue. Neku did the same, and they dried their hands off on the same towel. Joshua could see the worry in Neku’s eyes, even if the boy was trying to look brave.

“Worry not, Neku, dear.”

“I can’t help it. I don’t like anything to do with the Game.”

Joshua feigned hurt. “You don’t like me?”

“You and Mr. H are pretty much the only things not wrong with it. Unless you make a stupid decision and end up exploding Shibuya,” Neku said. He tossed the towel at the sink and patted his hands on his shorts before reaching into his pockets. “I don’t think there are any more in here.”

“Let me see,” Joshua purred, teasingly. He slid his hands into Neku’s pockets. “I don’t feel anyth-oh, wait, is that a pin or?”

“Don’t you dare.”

Joshua snickered as he pulled out another pin from the same pocket. He flicked it into the air and caught it. Setting it on the counter next to the fire pin, he waited to see if Neku saw it.

He didn’t.

“Give me your hand,” he ordered. Neku compiled, and Joshua put his finger on the pin.

It was the basic blue electric pin-Thunderbolt, if Joshua remembered correctly. He made sure Neku didn’t try to activate it by sliding it away from his touch. But the fact that he only saw it when Joshua handed it to him was a bit concerning.

Was it because Joshua was straddling the frequencies? Or was it because Neku’s soul had been around Joshua’s for far too long and it, too, was vibrating in the middle? Joshua hoped it was the former, not the latter, because the latter meant things he didn’t want to think about.

“Aight!” Hanekoma came back to the front, phones in hand. “It’s basically the same. Just scan the area and if ya sense a pin, pick it up. I’ve programmed it not to sense Player Pins and those already attached to a Player, but everythin’ else is fair game. Good luck.”

Joshua nodded slowly. He snapped the phone open and activated the application. It beeped around the pins on the counter, but a few feet out and it slowed to a thump-thump.

Doing the same, Neku fiddled with the settings on his phone. “I think we can manage. What do we do with the pins we find?”

“Bring ‘em back ta me.”

The two boys nodded.

Holding the door open, Joshua waited for Neku to exit before following behind. “Perhaps we should split up to cover more ground?”

“I can’t see the pins, though,” Neku argued. “I guess I could put them on a map, but what if whoever is doing this comes back and gets them before we do?”

“You have a point, partner. We should cover Cat Street first. It might take time but we have to scan the entire city for this rogue energy. Do you have it in you?”

Neku actually grinned. “Hey, this is the most exciting thing to happen in a while.”

“Good!” Joshua slapped Neku on the back. “Last one to the end of the street loses.”

“Hey! This isn’t a race!” Neku shouted, but he hurried down the street regardless.

Joshua continued a slow pace, his mouth quirked into a smile.

He had to agree with Neku. This would be most interesting.

So long as it didn’t turn out to be real trouble, that is.


	6. Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [I've had a fever for a week. I have a funny feeling I forgot/screwed something up but I can't find it. Please let me know about any errors so I can fix them. Thanks!]

 

Having collected twelve pins, Joshua was feeling confident. He was near the school grounds, continuing to track pins, when he saw what Neku had the other day. The girl was far too familiar for Joshua’s liking, and her school uniform reminded Joshua of his own when he was alive.

It was black and grey. Joshua often joked with his few friends about the color. There were tiny silver lines in the skirts for the girls, and he remembered the horrible plaid pants the boys had to wear. But the crest on the pocket of their coat was a dove, and Joshua fondly remembered caring for a dove with a broken wing and a twisted foot.

Her Lady of Shibuya. Yes, that was it-a strange and small Catholic school.

Back to the present, Joshua watched the girl as she bent over a particular shrub as if seeing something in the leaves or beyond. Her hair was caked with blood, and Joshua was certain he could see bits of skull poking out. His staring must have alerted her, because she turned, pinning him with black eyes.

“I know you,” Joshua whispered. He was not unnerved. What Neku had seen as black teeth was a mouth stained with blood. Her eyes weren’t exactly black, but the whites of her eyes had burst blood vessels filling them with a dark red. “You fell, didn’t you?”

The girl smiled. “Yoshiya Kiryu, as I live and breathe, I would never have thought to see you.”

“Mayumi Hitada?” Joshua stepped closer. “You were in the class next to mine. What happened?”

She fluffed her long hair over her shoulder before shrugging. “I fell from the roof.”

The school they had attended together was not as grand as Neku’s school. It only had three floors, a sanctuary for mass, and a couple of buildings reserved for physical education and school gatherings. He remembered being on the roof, looking out over the city.

“You always did flirt with danger. Were you walking along the wall?”

She laughed. “Yep. I slipped and fell. It didn’t hurt. I woke up and wandered for a bit. It’s weird attending your own funeral, but I got to see my parents and sister. Also, half the school showed up. I didn’t know I was so well liked.”

“You were quite interesting,” Joshua said. “What are you looking at?”

“Oh! Right,” she clapped her hands, “I saw what Neku and you were doing. I’m glad you came by here because I’ve been collecting things, too.”

Joshua moved toward the shrub. He peered in between the leaves and saw a half-buried pile of treasure. There were coins, ribbons, and a handful of random pins. “How did you-“

“You know, those birds still listen to me.”

Ah, yes. Mayumi’s special talent was bird calls. She could make birds retrieve and hop on command. It was an exceptional skill, and Joshua recalled watching her in awe. He reached into the bush to gather the pins up and he dusted them off before adding them to the growing pile in his pocket.

“Thank you, Mayumi. Do you know what these are?”

She nodded excitedly. “Joshua, I’ve been watching you and the Game since I died. When I saw you were with that other guy I wanted to watch him, too.”

“You can see the Game?” Joshua hadn’t talked to a ghost in quite some time. “Is that a side effect of death or-“

“A lot of the other ghosts can’t see it. I think,” she fluffed out her skirt and leaned against the wall, “it might be because I’ve been floating around you in secret. Maybe a little bit of your awesome rubbed off.”

Joshua laughed. “Awesome? Hardly. I’m just a demi-god controlling the Game. But how did I not notice you? I’m usually good at sensing ghosts.”

“You were so wrapped up in the Game you didn’t look. It’s okay, though. I can’t get past the Shibuya River so you’re safe there.” She smiled. “I missed you. I heard what happened and I felt terrible because I should have known how sad you were.”

“It wasn’t your job. You are my friend, and I appreciate the time I had with you. What afflicted me was not just sadness, Mayumi. I felt alone in the world. I looked forward into my future and saw a mundane existence in a city falling to darkness. With the power I had, I knew I could fix her. I was never cut out for a normal life. I have never had a normal life.”

Mayumi made a noise of agreement. “I don’t know. I looked forward to the future.”

“I’m sorry you aren’t able to-“

“Oh, hush. It happened. I can’t change it. I’m kinda happy about being dead. I can manipulate a little bit of energy and the birds always answer my call. Do you know how satisfying it is to beat the crap out of a bully by sicking birds on them? It’s wonderful.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the thought. “You always protected people.”

“And now I can do it full time. Speaking of which,” she turned, leaning against the wall on her right side, “you’ve got to be careful. The ghosts have been talking about a man in black with dark intensions.”

 “Sho Minamimoto, I have no doubt,” Joshua said. “He wants my job. I thought saving him from Erasure would show how I want to help him excel at his own position, but he’s too far gone into madness. Have you seen him?”

Mayumi shook her head and sighed. “I’ll keep an eye out, though. He can’t be hard to miss. Just be careful, okay? I don’t want you dying on me a second time.”

“I won’t,” he returned, “especially with Neku around. Mayumi, you need to be careful as well.”

“Of course.” She pecked him on the cheek. “I’ve got to go for now. I’ll pop in on you soon.”

“Thank you for the help.” Joshua smiled as he watched her fade into a cloud of grey and white before disappearing completely. He was only marginally concerned that he hadn’t seen her until now.

It wasn’t worth dwelling on. Joshua had a pocketful of pins and an insane ex-Reaper to deal with.

\---

Neku had given up halfway through the race. He wasn’t much help since he couldn’t see the pins. Instead, he wandered back to the café with a pocketful Joshua had given him before they split up. Knowing the asshole, however, he’d probably still be counting what he found afterward as part of some stupid game. At least they were back to a semi-normal relationship. Neku still felt like the biggest heel in the history of heels since the dawn of time.

He kept seeing Joshua’s face. The way his hair fell over his cheek and the heavy-lidded eyes moist with tears as he made soft noises. Neku knew he’d liked it, but it didn’t make it right.

“Y’look conflicted,” Hanekoma said, putting a cup of cappuccino in front of Neku. “I’m sure he’ll be back in a few. Don’t worry, kiddo. It’ll all smooth over.”

Neku took a sip of the cappuccino and hummed. “Wow. It’s good.”

“I’ve finally perfected it.”

On the edge of the cup was a marshmallow cat. Neku watched it melt into the foam.

“Do you think,” Neku said, “there’ll be a time where Joshua doesn’t want me around?”

Hanekoma paused in adjusting the letters and prices on his chalkboard menu. He stared at Neku long enough for half the cup to be drank. Eventually he sighed, and continued writing. “I can’t say.”

“Maybe I should move.”

“I doubt that’ll help.”

He tipped the cup back and forth to slosh the liquid around. “I don’t think it’s right to stay with Joshua if he’s gonna live forever and I’m…I’m not.”

“Look, kiddo,” Hanekoma wobbled as he climbed up a step ladder to hang the menu back on the wall, “y’can’t be sure of anythin’ regardin’ the UG.”

“But he’ll have to watch as I get old and die. It’s not fair to him.”

“Nothin’ is fair, Phones.”

Neku took another drink of the cappuccino and sighed at the heat in his chest. “I hope he’s okay.”

“I’m sure he’ll be showin’ up in no time,” Hanekoma replied with a wink. Once off the stepladder he began drawing pictures on the chalkboard sign that was usually outside. There were shades of blue and green in the shape of several cups of coffee and a few happy cat faces for good measure.

“Hey, Mr. H?”

“Yep?”

Neku drew his finger over the counter. “Am I supposed to be dead?”

The chalk squeaked over the board as the barista was caught off guard. “Say what now?”

“I was thinking about it the other day. Joshua and Beat talked about how if someone wanted to become Composer they’d have to take the current one out.” He paused, looked to Hanekoma’s face, and continued only when Hanekoma nodded. “I killed Megumi. Does that mean I’m supposed to be him?”

“Not exactly,” the barista said. “It’s all a technicality, really. Josh brought ya back ta life. Can’t be a Conductor if you’re a livin’ person.”

“But 777 has an RG and UG life.”

“He’s a Reaper, not an admin, kiddo.”

Neku sat up straight on the barstool and curled his hands under the rim. “I don’t get half of the Game’s rules and I was there for three weeks. Geez. Does Joshua even know half the things about it?”

“If he does, he sure as Hell don’t listen to the rules part,” Hanekoma laughed. He finished his masterpiece and carried it outside to sit on the sidewalk. In the middle of setting it, he stood up, narrowed his eyes, and stared into the distance.

A bad feeling washed over Neku. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something told him to sit still.

Hanekoma argued with whoever Neku couldn’t see, and his voice was just muffled enough by the glass that Neku didn’t understand what he was saying. In a flash, Hanekoma was knocked head over heels backward, and Neku had the sudden urge to hide.

Don’t engage, came the thought.

He collected the pins they’d had stored in a glass jar and hurried to the stockroom to hide. Something was telling him that whatever was going on, it had to be about the pins. It had to be something seriously fucked up with the UG.

In the stockroom were hundreds of boxes from small to large, and Neku found his best option to be a stack of large cup boxes pushed against the wall. He hid in the middle of the stack, sliding a box between two boxes to get under. It would look like a normal pile from the outside.

He hugged the pins to his chest as he heard the door slam open, glass shattering over the tiled floor. Hanekoma was arguing with someone and he yowled as who ever had broken in, must have attacked him. Neku felt small in his hiding place. He wanted to run to Mr. H and help, but again that nagging feeling of stay put and don’t engage hit him.

“Where the factor is it?”

No. No. It couldn’t fucking be.

“Y’damn hectopascal! Tell me where the factor those pins are or I’ll divide you by zero!”

Neku shook his head and held the jar to his stomach. He whispered under his breath for the math man not to find him. Please. I can’t do this.

The sound of boxes scattering in the storeroom made Neku flinch. Cups and lids tumbled over the floor along with the sound of tableware. Another stack of boxes hit the wall and scattered their product, and straight after, Minamimoto growled in rage.

“Give me those pins!”

Neku squeezed his eyes shut.

A loud bang brought silence, and after the silence there was nothing. Neku didn’t know if it was safe to come out of his hiding place. He peeked through the crack between two boxes and saw singe marks across the floor and walls. Shit.

“Hey,” a quiet voice, “you okay in there?”

Neku didn’t want to move.

“C’mon, get out of there. He’s gone.”

Again, Neku didn’t want to move.

“He’s being stubborn, huh?”

“Yeah. I guess we’ll have to yank him out.”

The voices were so familiar somehow. He winced when the light hit him and he stared into the faces of two individuals with the same form.

There were two Joshuas. Shit.

“Uh,” Neku said, “who are you?”

The one on the left, who had short hair and a prominent scar on their left cheek, smiled and offered a hand to Neku. “I’m Joshua.”

The other one, who had two different colored eyes-one green, one blue-also offered their hand. His hair was much longer and had been twisted into a braid behind him. “I’m Joshua. For sanity’s sake, you may call me Number 223, and he is Number 434.”

“Am I dead or something?” Neku finally stood up, ignoring both hands. “There are two Joshuas standing in front of me.”

“Hanekoma said he was smart,” 223 said to the other. “He’s dumb as a box of rocks.”

“Hey-“

“Oh, brother, don’t be so mean. He’s just scared,” 434 replied. “Aren’t you, Neku, dear?”

“I’m…uhm…wait,” he finally felt his senses coming back, “where’s the actual Josh? Is he okay?”

223 appeared to be the more professional of the two. “An angel was sent to guide him back to the River for the time being. His punishment has been placed on hold until we can rectify this situation.”

Neku dusted his bottom and shorts off. He carried the jar of pins in one arm. “That was Minamimoto, wasn’t it? What the Hell is he doing alive?”

“Joshua,” 434 began, “thought it better to keep him around in a reduced capacity. It didn’t work out as well as he’d hoped. Not sure what he’s doing with pins…”

“And before you ask,” 223 sighed, “we are not like you or him.”

434 smiled and placed both hands on Neku’s shoulders. “We’re from the Higher Plane. We aren’t directly involved with the Game but we are Enforcers. Think of us as…oh, what do they call it?”

“Avenging Angels.” 223 tucked a lock of hair behind his ear. “We kill outliers. Well, not all of them. You are an outlier, but the High Council said we are to treat you with…what was it?”

“Kid gloves,” 434 replied. “But I’m not sure how gloves too small for us will help.”

223 stared at 434 and frowned. “You’re such a cupcake.”

“That’s not nice!”

Neku coughed. “Uh, what do you mean cupcake?”

“You know, pretty to look at but mostly air.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the comment. He shook his head when 434 pouted in his direction. “S-sorry…it’s just…shit…why the Hell am I always in these messes?”

“Because you’re-“

223 slapped a hand over 434’s mouth. “Shut up. Now. We need to get the pins and you to the River before Minamimoto returns.”

“Wait,” Neku pushed past the two angels, “where’s Mr. H? Mr. H!”

He didn’t see anyone in the front of the café. The glass door was cracked and hanging open. Bits of glass scattered over the tile and the menus on the wall had fallen and broke. There were upturned chairs and tables on their side.

Neku didn’t see any blood. At least that was a relief.

“Hey, don’t run off,” 434 said. “Neku, he’s fine.”

“I don’t like this,” he groaned. “Why does Joshua always complicate things? Damn. I guess we should go where he is so I can kick him in the knee.”

The two angels glanced at each other before staring at Neku.

It was a tense moment. Neku eyed both of them, taking in how strange their physical appearance was below their faces. They wore long, white cloaks-just like an angel should-and the floor where their feet should be was an endlessly brilliant light. Neku turned his attention from the light to their faces once more, and in the time he’d taken to do a once over, the angels had grown wings from their backs and ears. They held their hands out and Neku shrieked at the eyes in their palms.

Their faces had changed. There were eyes everywhere, stretching from their face to their arms and back up. The eyes blinked in pairs, and the angels both spoke with an ethereal voice.

_Fear not. We are not going to harm you._

“I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming. It was that damn cappuccino. I knew it. I knew it. Mr. H-“

He didn’t have a chance to squeal as the angels whisked him away through what could only be described as a layer of air between light and dark. Neku flailed a bit as he landed on the floor of the throne room, stumbling and tumbling over onto his side with the jar of pins. It rolled from his arms and a white clad foot stepped onto it.

“Goodness, Neku. You certainly took a while,” Joshua teased. He knelt down. “Howdy, Partner.”

Yep. He was dreaming for sure.

Joshua was a fucking glowing monstrosity not unlike the angels, but with less eyes and more light. He was huge, at least seven…no…eight feet tall and wispy. His eyes were kind, and the outline of his face was drawn in shadow.

“Neku, it’s alright.”

He felt weird. The floor tilted up despite not moving and his head hit the ground hard as the darkness swallowed him up.

\---

“Well,” 434 sighed, “fuck.”

Joshua reached out to brush a hair from Neku’s eyes. “He passed out. I can’t say I’m surprised. What we are going through is too much for his soul to bear. Neku has an amazing amount of imagination but he’s young, and he cannot understand it. Sanae?”

The barista was lounging in the throne, hair singed, and clothes torn. “Yeah, Boss?”

“I want you to take him home. He has no place here.”

223 stepped forward. “Joshua, it isn’t wise. He needs to be protected.”

“That is exactly why I want him gone from here. The closer he is to the pins and me, the more likely Minamimoto will try to hurt him. I have put him through so much. He does not deserve another trial.”

434 nodded in understanding. “Yes, sir. Perhaps I may make arrangements for him to stay with one of our agents from the Higher Plane? Surely there is someone in Shibuya who can keep him safe.”

“If you two stay close to him,” Joshua whispered, “he will be alright. However…and I hate to do this…but it might be best if we take a few of his memories. If he has no connection to me-“

“No, sir!” 223 stepped forward. “The High Council demands you leave him intact.”

Joshua brushed a hand over Neku’s face. He was clammy and cold, and his eyes were darting back and forth under his pale lids. “Neku…I want to keep you. Please…don’t be angry.”

434 and 223 both attempted to halt him. “My Lord!”

He ignored it. His lips brushed Neku’s forehead and a curl of light appeared from his skin. Joshua swallowed it up with a sigh, and he stroked Neku’s face until he relaxed.

“Take him home. Do not engage him. I want you two to keep an eye on him at a distance. Hanekoma, I have not taken you from him. You are to council him if he is confused, but do not speak a word of my existence. Those memories, though intact,” he rose to his full height, “are hidden within his deepest thoughts and I have only severed the connection. Do not speak of me.”

Hanekoma hopped up from the throne and gave a mock salute. “Sure thing, Boss. Y’sure this is the best thing ta do?”

“No,” Joshua whispered. He watched as 434 lifted Neku up into his arms. “I am never certain of what will come from my rash decisions. Now go. Before he wakes.”

The angels turned into stars, and the stars pulsed out of existence. Joshua dropped his gaze to the shining tile floor and he stared at his reflection. “Hanekoma, go. I wish to be alone.”

“Whatever y’say, Boss. I’ll come by later to check on ya.”

“That isn’t necessary.”

“Yeah, it is. You get destructive when yer alone.”

Joshua smiled. “Alright. Sanae? I’m sorry about your café.”

“I’m used to it,” he said. “Won’t take much but a wink an’a smile t’fix.”

“When you return later, we can play a little chess. Bring some of your cappuccino. Neku’s mind said it was quite delicious.”

The air shifted and Joshua was alone. He settled on the throne and shrank down to his human form, just slightly older than he had been around Neku. His hands shook and his heart fluttered in his chest.

Oh, how he hated hurting Neku. It was obvious he did not love Neku, but he appreciated his friendship and saw him as a wonderful partner. He wanted to care for him. He wanted to spoil him rotten.

He wanted to make him happy.

But what if the only way he would ever be happy was to forget?


	7. Within Without

 

The apartment was empty and cold. Neku felt it as a physical weight the moment he woke up on his couch with a throbbing headache. It was far too quiet, and as he surveyed the room he knew there were supposed to be things in places where there were none.

Why did he have this strange sense someone had left?

He breathed, and he sat in the silence waiting for something-anything-to make noise.

It hurt. Whatever was missing from the apartment was like an open wound. Neku rubbed at his temples to make the headache go away but it did little to help. He rose from the couch and went to the kitchen to see groceries he didn’t remember buying, and the calendar was marked to a day he was sure he hadn’t went through. His phone said the same.

He’d lost a week.

A stack of papers on the counter and a note from his friends wished him well and gave him the homework he should have done for the week he was gone. How it got into the apartment he didn’t know, and his head pounded as he tried to make sense of the letters and numbers.

It was useless to dwell on. Thinking about what he might have lost just made the pain worse, and he went to the bathroom to seek out some painkillers.

He was hungry, but he didn’t want to cook. It would have taken effort he didn’t have the energy for.

His phone rang, and he stared at the screen for a long moment, reading the name over and over again as he waited to answer.

“H-hello?” He muttered. “Mr. H?”

“Heya, kiddo. You doin’ okay?”

Neku glanced around the apartment. “No. Not really.”

“What’s wrong? Did the flu hit you that hard?”

The flu? When did he have the flu? Why would a simple virus wipe out a week’s worth of memories?

“I…I don’t know…”

“Do ya want me to come over? Maybe cook y’something?”

Neku needed company. He nodded before realizing Mr. H probably couldn’t hear his head rattling. “Yeah, if you could. I feel weird. There’s something missing.”

“It was the fever, I’m sure. I’ll be over in thirty.”

The phone beeped as the call ended and Neku stared at the screen of his phone. There was a picture set as the background but it was blurry and only half the picture was visible. It must have been a glitch or something. He changed the background to a soothing color and snapped the phone shut.

Thirty minutes of silence and not knowing what the hell was going on came and went. The knock on his door made Neku’s heart skip, and he was confused as to why he thought someone else should be there.

He opened the door, stared at Mr. H, and finally collapsed against him.

“What’s happening?”

Hanekoma patted him on the back. “Ain’t nothin’ happenin’. You’ve just been sick.”

He continued to hold onto the barista even as he nudged Neku back into the apartment. Hanekoma settled him on the couch and went to the kitchen to cook.

“I don’t like feeling like this,” Neku said. “It hurts and I don’t know why.”

“The flu’ll do that to ya. You got any requests?”

Neku didn’t need to think. He automatically asked for a pancake filled with eggs and bacon. It made him feel normal to ask for it, and his stomach must have remembered something he didn’t. He relaxed back on the couch and closed his eyes.

“You’d tell me if there was something I forgot, wouldn’t you?”

The barista said nothing at first. He whisked the eggs and continued to cook before finally saying, “If it were in yer best interest, yeah. But I ain’t gonna tell you about being sick to the point y’needed fluids or how much you tossed yer cookies.”

“Yeah, okay,” Neku whispered. There was something on the edge of his memory.

A fuzzy, white outline of a person with a tender voice he couldn’t quite recall.

_Neku._

No, the more he tried to remember the more his head screamed for him to stop.

“Order up!”

Neku sat up on the couch as Hanekoma folded the pancake and stuffed it with eggs, bacon, and a variety of cheeses Neku didn’t know had been in his fridge. He went into the kitchen to eat, enjoying the warmth and the feeling of being normal for the span of a bite.

But it left quickly. He sat down on the counter and dangled his legs as he ate.

“So, d’ya want me to stay?”

“Yeah, if it’s not too much trouble. I’m not feeling very well.”

Hanekoma hummed and slapped a hand on Neku’s back. “Don’t worry, kiddo. It’ll all smooth over in the future I’m sure.”

_It’ll all smooth over._

Why did that bring a feeling of guilt and a heavy sickness in his stomach?

He finished eating and wiped his hands on his pants. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“Sure thing, Phones. Do y’need help wit’ yer homework?”

Neku turned to look at Hanekoma from over his shoulder. He was wearing the same outfit he always wore, with the black vest and white shirt rolled up at the sleeves. There was a short apron tied around his waist and his hair was slicked back instead of being a mess.

“I don’t know. I don’t see a point right now.”

“Aw, c’mon,” Hanekoma gathered the papers up and carried them to the bedroom where Neku’s work desk was pushed against one wall, “it’ll be easy peasy.”

Neku followed, if only to have something to do. He sat down at the work desk and spread the papers out to find the dates and subjects. Hanekoma sat down on the bed and fiddled with his phone while Neku started to work.

It was still too quiet. The lack of noise made Neku shiver and he flinched when Hanekoma tossed a blanket over his shoulders. He pulled it tighter and continued working until the night came and he felt worse than he had hours before.

“Y’gonna get cleaned up for bed?”

Neku shook his head and put his pencil down. He kept the blanket around him as he stumbled over to the bed and curled on his side. Hanekoma was still sitting on the edge of the bed and he rubbed Neku’s arm in comfort.

“Stay with me,” Neku whispered. “I can’t sleep alone.”

“I’m an old man, kiddo. It’d-“

He rolled over. “Please?”

Hanekoma sighed. He lay on his back on top of the covers.

Tossing the blanket over both of them, Neku put his head on Hanekoma’s chest just to feel the warmth of someone else in his terribly lonely existence. Hanekoma’s arm wrapped around him and the barista’s breathing and heartbeat made Neku feel comfort.

“I’m sorry, I’m being a child.” Neku snuggled closer. “I just feel so empty. What’s missing?”

“I can’t tell ya, Neku.”

Neku laughed. “That’s the first real time you’ve said my name.”

“Right,” Hanekoma said, “because you need it.”

It did feel good to hear his name. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep to dream about a tender voice and warm arms holding him.

_Neku._

\---

Time went on and Neku recovered. He felt better the more time he spent around his friends, and it felt good to have Hanekoma in his life. The barista would come to watch him play basketball at the end of the school day and he would walk Neku to the café to get a quick meal while he did his homework. On the days Neku wanted to hang out with his friends, Hanekoma stayed at the café.

A few weeks after what Hanekoma had called the flu, Neku’s life was getting back to normal and he felt better than he had in a long time. He excelled in school and he helped Hanekoma at the café when he needed a little extra money. On Sundays, when his friends were busy, Hanekoma taught him how to draw and do basic desktop publishing things.

Neku felt good. He felt alive.

But still…something was missing.

He didn’t dwell on it, since focusing on what he didn’t have took energy away from what he did. Thinking about what he could do and what made him happy helped to fill the hole, and he soon found it didn’t hurt near as bad as it should. There were still flashes of memory and dreams of being with someone he couldn’t quite place, but he ignored them until eventually they, too, stopped.

It wasn’t until he decided to take a walk late one night, when he couldn’t sleep, and he managed to come close to the Stationside Underpass that something started to click.

He didn’t call it the Stationside Underpass. His mind automatically called it the Shibuya River.

Neku stared into the darkness, wanting to step into it, but feeling he shouldn’t. It was probably dirty and smelly and completely void of good intensions. What if there were gang members in the tunnel?

He decided against going in, but a sound from further in caused him to pause.

It was like music, but it wasn’t. Neku found it curious and he peeked into the wide opening to see nothing but darkness and the sound of water flowing. He had little better to do, and though he was afraid of being jumped, something urged him on.

Of course, something also screamed at him to stop, but he ignored it.

Halfway into the tunnel he noticed graffiti on the walls. It was stupid. People had scrawled names, drawn penises, and wrote foul words as if it were the smartest thing to say. Neku snorted and continued in to see the bright colors of a tag he found familiar. It was CAT’s work.

He trailed his hand over the dried paint and wondered, why would Hanekoma paint a mural in a place hardly anyone would think to look?

The tag was just as detailed and wonderful as the Udagawa mural, but the theme was darker. Several skulls and bones mixed in with reds and blacks were screaming of death, and there were white angels with multiple eyes and wings. Neku put a hand on one angel, feeling he should know who it was, but coming up completely blank.

It was cold in the tunnel, and the wind whistled through it to make him shiver. He decided to turn back out of exhaustion and the fact he had to go to school tomorrow.

“I don’t care what you think.”

Neku stopped. The voice came from further in.

“No, it’s not important. I don’t want to pressure him.”

He stood in a puddle, feet freezing from the cold, and listened to a one-sided conversation. The words didn’t echo, which was odd, and the tone was overly dramatic.

“Then I will Erase him. I don’t want to talk about this, Sanae. I am this close to resolution.”

Sanae? Sanae Hanekoma?

“No. You listen to me,” the voice paused, “wait. Something is off. I feel…oh, dear.”

A rumble issued from the end of the tunnel and Neku panicked, thinking the walls would collapse. He held his hand out to the wall to remain standing, but he soon began to run when the shimmering of water rushed toward him from the end.

It was a flood, and if he didn’t run toward the entrance, he’d be caught up in it. His shoes slapped on wet stone and he huffed for breath in the cold as he hurried to the front. The water stopped only when he reached outside, and it evened out and flowed away.

Neku put a hand to his chest as he fought to catch his breath.

What the fuck was that?

He leaned down with his hands on his knees and he panted. “Shit. Shit. What the hell.”

The night echoed around him. Though he wanted to go back in, it would’ve been stupid, and he decided to return home, take a hot shower, and go to bed.

But the words circled in his head.

Who had been speaking and what was it about?

Wait. If someone had been further in and the water came…wouldn’t they have come out?

Neku wondered if he should go back in to check, in case someone needed help, but his mind put one and two together and realized that if the person got caught in the water, they definitely would be at the mouth of the tunnel.

Yep. Neku was alright with that.

Go home. Take shower. Go to bed.

Yeah. That made a lot more sense.


	8. Red Herrings

The cursor on the laptop blinked as Joshua attempted to wrap his head around his swirling thoughts. Hours prior, Neku had been chased away from the Shibuya River, but his presence could still be felt as a residual energy of curiosity and fear. Joshua typed one line, and sighed.

_Status: Active_

He hated reports. Especially when he had as little information as he did.

_Minanimoto, Sho – Age 18_

It was odd to think of the over-zealous mathematician as a teenager. He was far too intelligent to be just a kid, but he was also rash and headstrong. Joshua tapped his finger on the track pad of his laptop and he pursed his lips.

_Threat Level: High_

Joshua frowned. No.

_Threat Level: Medium_

Yes, that was better. Despite attacking Sanae and destroying the café in the search of pins, he didn’t kill anyone, and he had only incapacitated Sanae. He had shown an incredible amount of restraint, and there was only a tenuous link between him and rest of the anomalies in the Game.

_Position: Game Master, Retired_

Joshua sighed again. He was bored.

_[Insert Body of Report Below]_

_Minamimoto, Sho is currently in search of the random pins found around Shibuya for an unknown reason. He has shown violent intent, but the Erasures and strange occurrences cannot be linked to him. Minamimoto, Sho’s current whereabouts are unknown, but he is within the walls of Shibuya’s UG. There have been no reports in the RG about his existence. Hitada, Mayumi-deceased citizen of Shibuya-reports his current form similar to what his final form in the Game had been. It is certain he still has control of his Taboo powers, but there have been no reports of him actually using said power. The only thing the whispers of the dead speak of his is dark intent, but there is no real proof of this fact. Minamimoto, Sho did destroy the WildKat Café in search of the pins, but he did not cause bodily harm to either Hanekoma, Sanae, or Sakuraba, Neku._

Joshua paused. It made no sense as to why he did not hurt anyone. It further made no sense as to why he wanted the pins. Perhaps he was trying a similar plan to Megumi, but the pins did not have an energy signature matching Sho’s.

It confused Joshua even now as to why he could see the pins and hold them when Neku couldn’t, but how Neku could utilize their power in the RG. Perhaps it was because of Joshua’s soul being so heavily connected to Neku’s, but if that were the case, Neku should have been able to see the pins.

Also, why did Neku have the pin close by if he had no knowledge of it? The pin continued to show up in several different pockets. Someone was moving it to keep it close to Neku, but for what purpose?

Who was the real antagonist, and what was their goal?

Joshua shut his laptop and growled. He waved it away-oh, how he had missed his powers-and rose from the throne to enter the Pad. It was probably foolish to drink while trying to figure out what the hell was going on, but he needed a hard drink.

He didn’t expect to see Sanae sitting on the couch nursing his own glass.

“Got any clues, Boss?”

Joshua shook his head. He started to mix a drink from the many bottles in the back. “Unless you count confusion as a clue, then no. I have none. There is a worrying question nagging me. Why is Sho after the pins and why did he spare you? He certainly had no qualms about attacking you in the Game.”

“Not sure,” Sanae said, taking a sip of what looked to be brandy. “Maybe we should look fer ‘im and ask him what the Hell.”

“I doubt it’d help. Half the time I can’t understand what he’s saying.” Joshua used a glass stirrer to mix five parts enthusiasm with two parts luck. He dripped a bit of courage into the drink and swirled it around before taking a sip. “Mmm. The perfect combination of souls.”

Sanae snorted. “I’d rather have alcohol.”

“It’s almost as hard,” Joshua said, taking a seat next to Sanae on the couch. “How is Neku?”

“He’s Neku.”

Joshua narrowed his eyes.

“I’m kiddin’! He’s good, actually. Kinda confused as to why he can’t remember bits and pieces of things he doesn’t understand, but good. He’s been helpin’ me at the café. Once this blows over-“

“I can’t do that to him.”

The barista paused in taking a drink. “Huh?”

“I can’t pull him back into this. I have to keep my distance. It’s for his own protection.” Joshua rolled the liquid in the glass. “It wouldn’t be right to keep him tied into the Game.”

“It makes sense,” Sanae said, “but that ain’t at all what y’want. I ain’t stupid, kid.”

Joshua leaned forward on his knees and exhaled. “Sanae, please don’t try and shrink me. I’m not in the mood and my head already hurts.”

“Good. Pain makes you remember what it’s like ta live.”

“Fuck you,” Joshua said. He stood up, took a sip of his drink, and wandered over to the jukebox to fiddle with the different options. “It doesn’t matter what I want.”

Sanae frowned. “Yeah, it does.”

“I’m a Composer. I am not a flighty human who needs friends and long term relationships. I am a mighty force to be reckoned with and I have the power to do whatever I wish. There is no reason I need the company of a human.”

“Bullshit.”

Joshua growled. He pushed a few buttons and a big band of the 40s began to play. “Sanae Hanekoma I do not need your opinion. It isn’t wanted nor is it appreciated.”

“You forget, kiddo, that of the two of us, I’m the higher rankin’ one. Yer workin’ for the High Council, not fer y’self. If ya wanna ruin yer life, go ahead. But I ain’t lettin’ y’fuck up Shibuya…again.”

It would have been satisfying to throw the drink at Sanae’s face, but it would also have proved to show him how childish Joshua was. He held the glass tight in his hand and glared at Sanae. “I work for them, but I do not work for you.”

“The Hell y’don’t.” Sanae came to stand next to him. “If I see yer doin’ somethin’ to hurt her, I’ll report it to the High Council.”

“Oh? Would they listen to you, a fallen fucking angel who attempted to murder the Composer who supposedly works for you?”

The barista was unphased.

“Yes, I know all about your little plan, and look where it has gotten us. Sho Minamimoto, with the full use of Taboo power, is out to get revenge. You gave him the power to do it. Why don’t you go out there and try to stop him? Why are you here, trying to pretend to be a father to me? You are nothing to me, Sanae Hanekoma. Nothing. I do not need you and I do not need your-ah!”

He’d been slapped. Sanae’s right hand had struck him across the left cheek hard enough to make his head snap to the side. It hurt. Joshua rubbed at the red flesh and the glass in his hand began to crack.

“How dare you.”

“I care about you, J. I’m not gonna let ya self-destruct because yer a spoiled brat. Yer better than this and yer a good kid. I ain’t gonna watch you repeat the same mistake you’ve repeated for thirteen years.”

Joshua swallowed hard. The glass shattered, imbedding shards in his skin. Blood trickled around the glass and Joshua curled his hand into a fist, causing it to spurt onto the clear floor. “Get out of my sight.”

“No. I ain’t leavin’ ya.”

“I said,” he squeezed his hand tighter, “get out of my sight, Producer.”

“Y’think that’s gonna hurt? You’ve got another thing comin’, you noisy little fucker.” Sanae folded his arms and stared at Joshua as if begging for him to do something to push him.

Joshua began to tremble in anger. He raised his hand to strike Sanae as he had struck him, but the hand was caught and Sanae’s fingers gently massaged his wrist.

“Y’gotta stop, J. Y’gotta trust people.”

“I trust people,” Joshua whispered.

The angel kissed his bleeding palm and began to suck the pieces of glass from his skin. Joshua whimpered at the pain of the glass sliding from his flesh, and he gasped at a particularly large chunk. Sanae kissed the wounds to heal them, and his tongue stroked along Joshua’s palm.

“Please, stop,” he shivered, “please, Sanae-“

“You might trust people,” Sanae said, “but y’don’t give yerself enough credit.”

Joshua yanked his hand back. “Just leave me alone.”

“I will never leave you alone,” he replied, placing his hand on the cheek he hadn’t hit. His thumb rubbed Joshua’s cheek and he smiled. “Josh, I ain’t leavin’.”

“I know,” Joshua felt like crumpling, “that’s what I’m afraid of.”

Sanae tugged him into a tight embrace. He kissed the top of Joshua’s head and sighed into his hair. “I’m not gonna let ya give up.”

He twisted his fingers into Sanae’s sleeves. The barista smelled old, but it was a familiar scent, and Joshua buried his face deep into the man’s chest. “I know. I know.”

“C’mon, we’ve got work ta do.”

Joshua nodded. He didn’t want to let go, but he pulled away regardless. “Yes, we have a madman to seek out and a plot to foil. I want the angels recalled from Neku. It will take all of our power and thought to find someway of fixing this.”

“But Neku’ll be without protection.”

“Oh, Sho hasn’t tried to lift a finger against him. I’m certain he’ll be alright.”

“If y’say so, Boss.”

\---

Neku suddenly felt like he was being watched.

It was in the middle of a homework assignment when he felt it. Sitting on the couch in front of the television watching stupid children’s programming, Neku was almost done with his math set. He glanced around the apartment and didn’t see anything, which, if he had, would’ve been weird.

Nerves. Yeah. It was nerves.

He continued working, scribbling his work on a legal pad before writing the answer down to check in the study guide later. It wasn’t too hard. Neku had a knack for math, and it would’ve been super easy to do if he wasn’t being bored to death.

Again, a shiver ran up his neck. He clicked the television off and stood up. “Hello?”

Yeah. Smart, Neku. Talk to the ghost that might be in the apartment. It always worked out for the protagonists in horror movies.

He moved toward the bedroom. Obviously, no one was found. The closet and bathroom were empty, and the utility closet was too small to fit a person. Neku thought it stupid to check, but he stepped out onto the short balcony and looked over the edge.

Below, the city flowed. Neku watched it for a bit before turning around.

He half expected someone to be standing face to face with him.

But no, they weren’t in front of him. They were in the living room, sitting on the couch.

Neku didn’t know what to do. He was cornered.

“Damn, kid, you ain’t bad,” the man in leather said. He had ripped bondage pants and a jacket torn at the sleeves and down the front to show his prominent tattoos. They ran up his chest and down his arms, and from the low hanging waistband, Neku could see they went further in.

“Keh. You look confused,” he said, flipping through the homework. “It ain’t been that long.”

“Do I know you?” Neku managed to inch into the kitchen to grab a frying pan. “How’d you get in?”

The  man snorted. He continued checking Neku’s math. “It ain’t hard to figure out. Subtract a bit here, divide there, and suddenly a clear solution.”

Neku held the frying pan out. “I think you should leave.”

“Trust me,” he said, “you don’t want that.”

“I think I do,” Neku argued. “I don’t want to get rough.”

The man laughed. He gave a toothy grin to Neku before darting his glance over Neku’s shoulder. Snapping a gun from his right hip, he pointed it toward Neku and fired.

_Damn…I messed up…_

Neku’s head hurt. He thought he’d been shot but there wasn’t any blood. Behind him, he heard a woman’s shriek and a sudden gust of wind flew past. Neku was frozen to the spot as a shadow wrestled with the man in black, and he watched, distant, as the two came to blows. Another gunshot and the shadow gave a shrill cry and flew out of the window.

“C’mon, we gotta subtract ourselves from this equation!”

“Uh, no thank you,” Neku said, gripping the frying pan.

“There ain’t time, little digit.”

Neku squealed as the man wrapped an arm around his waist, carrying him like a sack of potatoes before rushing from the apartment and off of the balcony. He bounced from wall to wall, tearing up the side of a building before landing on the roof of what Neku thought was 104. The man dropped him and he rolled to the side.

“What the Hell do you want?!” Neku backed away on his bottom, legs too shaky to stand. “Get the Hell away from me!”

“You seriously don’t remember me? Keh. I ain’t surprised.” He shoved his hand toward Neku. “Does the name Sho Minamimoto ring-a-ding a bell?”

Neku stared at the hand.

_I thought you couldn’t afford to lose?_

“Shit,” Neku rubbed at his temples, “I don’t know. It’s there but it’s not. Why me? What do you want from me?”

“It ain’t what I want,” Sho said, “it’s what that damn witch wants.”

“Who?”

“Did your brain round down after the Game? Shit, kid,” he laughed, “you’re as dumb as a negative number in a fraction.”

Neku shook his head. He finally stood up and pressed his back to the wall. “I don’t understand any of this and I don’t want to be here.”

“It’s always me, eh?” Sho looked at over the city as he spread his arms wide. “I should’ve been ruling this useless group of ones and zeros.”

“I don’t think anyone rules Shibuya. I mean, there’s the Composer,” he said, remembering the third week where Beat was bent on finding the Composer to overthrow. Neku couldn’t remember who the Composer was or what happened after, but they’d won, so it didn’t matter, right?

Something about the guy who’d flung him out of his apartment and over a series of buildings with little thought to falling to their deaths was bothering him. Sho Minamimoto…the memory was on the tip of Neku’s mind and he tried desperately to remember.

“Aight. We gotta get you outta here,” the man said. He approached Neku. “C’mon. I gotta get you to a safe place. That witch’ll be after you.”

“What witch?” Neku slapped at the man’s hands. “Stop it! Don’t touch me!”

Sho wasn’t amused. He moved too fast for Neku to avoid and they were off again, bouncing through the city toward what Neku could only guess was Udagawa. He was moving too much to get his bearings and he fought to keep breathing as the air flew past him.

They reached the mural, but instead of stopping, the man ran toward it.

Neku shrieked as they were pulled into the painting and he flailed as hundreds of colors whirled around him before going completely black.

He was set on his wobbly feet.

Outside of a reversed image of the Udagawa mural, Neku could see the city. He pressed a hand to the picture and recoiled when it burned before showing a honeycomb pattern scattered over the colors.

“A wall?”

“Yep,” Sho said. He sat down near what appeared to be a campsite. Empty food containers, cans of soda, and a rolled up mat surrounded him. “You hungry?”

“Where the fuck am I.”

The man looked up. “I have beans…canned chicken…a little bit of noodles…”

“Where the fuck am I?!” Neku screamed, hands twisting into fists. “What the Hell do you want?”

“I ain’t doin’ this for my health. You’re the hope of Shibuya,” he explained, opening a can of mixed beans and veggies, “if that witch gets ya, she’ll overthrow that bastard. I can’t believe I didn’t figure out her formula before.”

Neku was confused. He was tired, sick, and his head hurt. “Just take me home.”

“Can’t,” Sho said. He spooned a mouthful of cold food. “Y’should try this.”

“I want to go home,” Neku whispered. It didn’t do any good and he collapsed to the stone floor near the rolled up mat. He rubbed his face and sucked in a breath. “Why is this happening? I won the Game.”

“Which is why she wants you. She’s pissed.”

“Please stop playing the pronoun game you expositional fuck and tell me who she is.”

“The Iron Maiden. Her frosty-bitchness. Also known by the non-pc term as the slut of shadows. Honestly, I hate that name. It’s wrong on many levels. She’s as frigid as the artic tundra.”

Neku frowned. He poked a bottle of unopened beer. “Does she have an actual name?”

“Mitsuki Konishi. Ring-a-ding a bell?”

Wait.

Wait…

Oh. Right. Yeah, yeah. It was that bitch who took Rhyme from Beat and hid in Beat’s shadow until she decided to fight them for the pin.

“But we Erased her.”

Sho laughed, nearly choked on beans, and coughed. “She divided herself into hundreds of shadows and for every pin there’s a piece of the bitch out there.”

“Wait.” Neku racked his brain. He remembered Hanekoma’s café being attacked and the voice of Sho calling out for the damn pins. There were far too many gaps in his memory before and after, but he remembered hiding from Sho with a jar of twenty or so pins. “That’s why you were looking for the pins.”

“Yep. I’m gonna crunch!” He put one fist into the other hand. “Add her to the heap.”

“But why is she…why am I…”

“She wants to be Composer. She’s pissed at you because you still have enough imagination to activate the pins, but she ain’t been able to get to you. If you activate all the pins,” he clapped his hands together to make a loud noise, “boom. She’s back.”

“Okay. You’re telling me she wants me to activate the pins to bring her back to life? That’s stupid. I’m not going to help the person who tried to Erase Rhyme.”

Sho nodded. “Yep. She thought of that, too.”

“Huh?”

“Y’see there’s these rogue Players.” He took another bite of beans, chewed, swallowed, and smacked his lips. “They’d had enough imagination to activate the pins, an’ she took their souls and forms to wander the Game to search for more pins. Unfortunately for her Iron Frostiness, her soul’s too powerful and it wrecked the shit out of those Players. She’s only allowed a few at a time before they’re basically Erased. She’ll try an’ use ‘em against you.”

Neku frowned. “So…lemme get it straight. She thinks I have enough power to activate a whole fuck ton of pins. She thinks if she threatens me with how many souls?”

“At the time of this can of beans,” he did math in the air with his finger, “eighty-one.”

“Eighty-one?!”

“Yep.”

“Son of a bitch. She’s going to hold the fate of eighty-one souls over me, for some stupid revenge plot over an asshole Composer I don’t even know?”

Sho stared at him. “Wait. You don’t? You were with ‘im for a week.”

“Beat?”

“Hell no.”

Him? Well, unless Shiki was hiding something from him, it wasn’t her.

“You really don’t remember, do ya?”

Neku shook his head. He stared out into the city from the window of the mural. “No. I don’t.”

“In the second week,” Sho explained, “he was your partner. Don’tcha remember?”

“I remember you attacking us…I vaguely remember you trying to shoot me…or was it him? No,” Neku squeezed his eyes shut as a rolling headache attempted to keep him from remembering, “Josh? Why is that name familiar?”

“’cause he’s the Composer.”

_…Yoshiya Kiryu…but you can call me Joshua…_

Joshua.

A flood of memories tore through Neku’s brain and he screamed as the headache exploded into a bone crushing wall of anguish. He shook his head, tore at his temples, and whimpered when the memories finally stopped flowing in and began to knit together.

“Joshua. That prick. He…he took himself out of my head.”

“I’m sure he had a reason,” Sho said. He put the empty can of beans to the side and dropped the spoon into the can with a plink. “But don’t worry. I’m gonna divide that bitch Konishi by zero and Erase her from any plane of existence. You’ve gotta stay here.”

“I don’t-“

“Little digit, if you care about Shibuya, you’ll keep yer ass put.”

Neku growled. He wanted to help but…he had no idea how. “Fine.”

“Aight. I’m out.”

“Wait! Don’t-“

It didn’t help. Sho left the hidden space through the wall, leaving Neku alone in the dark and quiet. He gently put a hand to the wall and his palm tingled as he stared out at the city.

“Joshua Kiryu, you son of a bitch. I’m going to punch you in the dick.”


	9. Brain Trust

 

They were no closer to strategy than they had been hours before. In the Pad, the three Joshuas and one Producer were staring at a piece of paper on the glass table in front of the couch. It only said two things, and neither of them helped.

_Plan | Execution_

“Nope,” 434 said, “I haven’t the foggiest on what to do.”

223 grumbled. “This shit is bananas.”

“Yep,” Hanekoma sighed, “the only thing I can think of is how it can’t be Sho.”

Joshua kicked the table. He began to speak, but his words were caught in two sharp sneezes.

“Bless you,” the two Joshuas said.

“Someone must’ve been talkin’ ‘bout ya, Boss.”

“Well, it couldn’t be Neku,” Joshua said, rising from the couch to pace the floor. The fish followed his footsteps back and forth. “What to do…”

“Maybe we should take a break,” the barista offered with a wave of the wrist. “It ain’t doin’ us good ta sit ‘ere and think.”

Joshua nodded. “Good plan. I need a little fresh air.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” 434 stood up. “It might not be safe.”

“I’ll be fine. I have my Composer powers.”

He didn’t wait for a response, he simply winked out of the Pad and appeared in the UG in front of the 104 building. The air felt cool on his skin and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants as he walked toward the mural to think. He would have gone to Cat Street, but Sanae was still working out the kinks of rebuilding. The barista had been thinking about a makeover-new chairs, new paint, and a new menu.

Joshua had teased him that no matter what he did it would suck. Sanae hadn’t been too happy about his comment and vowed to ban Joshua from future visits.

The city was as she always had been. Joshua closed his eyes, inhaled the mixed scents, and exhaled a cloud of heavy breath. He was stressed and he missed Neku-albeit begrudgingly admitting it. Neku had been an amusing distraction from the Game, and without his excited energy around, Joshua felt destructive and slightly bored. What would it matter if someone dethroned him? It wasn’t as if he would make it another year without a new Conductor and a sense of purpose. Everything had changed the moment he met Neku, and now, he couldn’t go back to the way it was before.

He wanted to make the youth happy, but he did not want to rule Shibuya alone.

Before he knew it, he was near Udagawa, and the sharp sense that something was wrong hit him like a lightening bolt. He twisted this way and that, gazing behind him and in front of him, in his periphery and beyond. Someone was watching him.

A banging noise caught his attention and he stared at the mural. It sounded as if it were coming from within the stone but it had to be impossible. He stepped closer, leaned in, and leapt back when he saw a face staring at him from behind a shade of violet.

“Josh! It’s me! Let me out of here!”

The Composer tilted his head curiously. Hadn’t he severed the connection of his ex-proxy’s memories of him?

Wait. The more important question was why he was behind a _wall_. “Neku?”

“Duh. Get me out of here.”

“My,” Joshua giggled, “it looks as if you’re between a rock and a hard place.”

“I’m going to kick you in a hard place if you don’t fucking get me out of here.”

Joshua smiled. “Oh, you’re no fun. Here.”

He offered his hand, sliding it through the wall without effort. Neku took it and he pulled back, yanking Neku from the wall and to the pavement.

“Fuck me.” Neku remained on his knees. “That damn math asshole.”

“Sho? He put you in the wall?”

Neku glared up at Joshua and tore his hand away. “You stupid son of a bitch. You tried to Erase my memories of you.”

“Apparently you love me so much it didn’t work. D’aww, Neku,” Joshua clasped his hands together and batted his eyelashes, “you wuv me.”

He couldn’t argue that he didn’t deserve the punch to his face. It was well earned and Joshua flailed backward as he landed on his bottom on the rocky pavement. The pain in his nose throbbed to his brain and he held a hand to it to stop the bleeding.

“How does that feel?” Neku curled his hands into fists. “I outta-“

Joshua’s voice squeaked as he spoke with his nose pinched shut. “I think you’ve done enough.”

“I could do more,” he growled.

_So could I._

Neku froze.

Joshua narrowed his eyes.

“Funny, Neku.”

“It wasn’t me! I didn’t say anything!”

Joshua sniffled and rubbed the broken nose away. He pushed up to his feet and dusted his bottom. “Am I supposed to believe you?”

_My calculations were perfect. I have reached a desired solution._

“Did Sho get a sex change or something?” Neku moved closer to Joshua. “Hey, it’s not funny.”

The shadows beneath them stretched out and up against the wall. Neku shoved Joshua away and stood in front of him.

Joshua did nothing. He stared at the woman appearing from the shadows and she giggled annoyingly before tossing a lock of hair over her shoulder.

“How do I sound?” She smirked. “I suppose I should thank Sho for being my little red herring, though he won’t be around long enough to know it.”

“You bitch.” Neku moved to hit her, but he fell through her form and smacked head first into the Udagawa mural with a grunt. “You’re not fighting fair!”

“Life isn’t fair,” she said, sharply, “and neither is death. You thought you could Erase me with your silly little friend Rhyme? How pathetic. I will love being the Composer if it means crushing you insects.”

Joshua stepped back. “Konishi.”

“You remember. It will be the last thing you do,” she warned, flaring her wings out.

Kneeling down, Joshua picked up a stray piece of rock and tossed it at her. It went through her body and landed behind. “You’re incorporeal. You have no power over me.”

“You underestimate me. You always have.” She snapped her hand out and grabbed Neku by the collar with unimaginable speed. “You see, he’s my proxy now. All I need are some pins.”

“Jokes on you,” Neku growled, straining against the hold. “They’re safe with the Angels.”

“What a fool you are. Those pins? They were decoys. Or didn’t you know, your highness?”

Joshua flinched.

The energy signature hadn’t matched Sho. It hadn’t matched Konishi.

It had been a ruse.

“You bitch,” he snarled. “Let him go.”

“Ah, ah, ah. Unless you want your precious Neku to join the others, I suggest you stop. Now,” she squeezed her hand tighter, “activate the pins, Neku Sakuraba.”

“Fuck you,” he ground out before spiting in her direction. “I don’t know where they are and I’m not going to help you!”

Konishi sighed. “No? Perhaps you’ll help these tender souls.”

She opened her hand and a hundred pins decorated with Noise symbols tumbled from her fingers to plink on the pavement and roll into all sorts of directions. They littered the ground and Joshua knelt to touch one before picking it up.

A human energy signature. She had collected Players without him knowing it.

“Yes,” she laughed, “I calculated every angle.”

Neku kicked and struggled. He lashed out and tried to scratch the arm holding him but his fingers slid through it like sand.

It made her giggle with glee and she waved her hand through the air to call the pins back into her shadowy grip. She snapped her fingers and a series of pins-five in total-hovered in front of them. They were decorated with a broken version of Sanae’s graffiti and Joshua felt his anger rising.

“I thought,” Neku groaned, “there were more pins?”

“As I said, a red herring. I needed only a select set of pins to attach my energy to once I was finished with those useless ex-Players. They came willingly,” she explained, “since I told them I had the power to release them from the Game.”

Joshua wanted to hit her. He wanted to use his power and crush her before she had the chance to become real again, but she had Neku. Joshua couldn’t risk it.

“Now,” she snarled at Neku, “activate the pins or I’ll Erase you.”

“Do it,” Neku barked.

Joshua darted his gaze between the two of them. He knew Neku was brave enough to offer his Erasure for the lives of the other Players and for Shibuya. It was an unnecessary sacrifice, and one Joshua did not want to see. He moved into his full Composer form and stood towering over the wispy form of Mitsuki Konishi.

“Let him go.”

“Or what? Your power cannot reach the shadows. You are of light,” she laughed, “and I am of dark.”

Neku continued to fight to get free. “I’m not helping you! I’d rather be Erased than help you!”

“Very well,” she said. “I suppose you are too foolish to simply give in. I thought to give you a chance to be with your dear Composer before I killed you both. Now, die.”

She opened her mouth. The air around Neku swelled and he began to fade into static as he jerked and screamed to get free.

Joshua cried out, attempting to harm her with a blinding flash of light and power, but it was no use.

The bitch swallowed Neku whole, taking in every cell of energy he had, and she threw her arms out as she laughed menacingly. She was reforming into a physical body and she continued to cackle throughout the transformation.

“Finally I will have my revenge!”

Her hands stretched toward the heavens and she called on the pins to activate.

They refused.

“Now, I command you!”

Nothing. Not even a little spark.

“You foolish child! Stop resisting my influence! You are of me now!”

Joshua realized Neku wasn’t letting her win. Despite being absorbed into her energy, he was still conscious and aware of what he was doing. He kept her at bay, holding his power within, until the pins began to vibrate slightly.

He was losing the battle. Joshua had one chance to end it all, but he would sacrifice Neku’s soul in the process and he couldn’t.

Neku was his friend. Neku was more than his friend. They were partners. They were companions. They shared both life and death together with smiles and tentative touches. He wanted Neku. He did not want Shibuya.

But he knew…Neku would never forgive Joshua if he chose him over the city.

“I can’t…” his voice broke.

_Do it, Joshua._

He swallowed hard and raised his hand. Joshua trembled as he collected the music of the city into the palm of his hand and he shot a beam of light directly into the center of the Iron Maiden. She cried out inhumanely and began to tear at the edges, her form perverting into an unnatural shape as she fought to hold on to it. The souls of the Players she had manipulated were abandoning her, and in the middle of it all was a globe of orange light.

Neku.

Within a breath, Konishi wailed and was no more. The energy around her dissipated, and a warmth flowed over Joshua as he felt Neku’s spirit enter him. He held his hands out and stared at them as they shook from the force he had released.

Joshua closed his eyes. He focused. He tried to put Neku back together.

It was useless.

“No,” he whispered. Again, he fought to pull the strands of memory and cognition together, but again he failed and Neku floated within Joshua’s cells as music.

The melody was comforting, but the pain in Joshua’s chest would take more than a few notes to stop aching. He fell to his RG form and knelt down on the pavement. There was a swirl of life behind him and he turned to see Sho standing with an expression of disbelief.

“Shit. Little digit,” he breathed, “where is he?”

“Gone,” Joshua said, emotionless. “He’s gone.”

Sho came to stand behind Joshua. “Sorry. I tried to-“

“It doesn’t matter, Minamimoto. I do appreciate your trying to protect him,” he paused, “to protect Shibuya, but Neku chose to sacrifice himself for the greater good.”

“That sucks. Oi, y’gonna Erase me?”

Joshua was tired. He gazed up at Sho blankly. “No. You have learned your lesson. I do have a position available, but I will need to have you processed by the Angels.”

Sho punched his fist into his palm. “Aight.”

“Please, leave me alone,” he whispered. The mathematician said nothing as he winked from the area and Joshua felt him moving somewhere around Cadoi City.

Pulling up from the ground, his body felt heavy. He managed to stumble a few steps to the left before leaning into a wall. Joshua was completely spent.

Instead of going home to the Pad, he went to Neku’s. He wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to surround himself with Neku’s smell and energy. The bed was soft and the pillows retained Neku’s musky scent and Joshua buried his face into them as he passed out from exhaustion.

Shibuya was safe, but at the cost of Neku.

Who would anchor Joshua now?


	10. [Epilogue] Opening Closure

Sometimes, there are no happy endings.

The Composer of Shibuya knew this well.

Often, when he felt burdened, he would visit the cemetery to see the graves of Players lost and people who had once been a part of the Game who existed no more. He would walk past the schools where most of the Players came from, and he would visit the boutiques and shops to stay up to date on the latest fashions and trends.

It was a boring existence, at least, in the beginning.

Several years had passed since Neku gave his life to protect Shibuya in the not so climactic battle against Mitsuki Konishi. She had been completely eradicated, and what tiny dust motes were left had been destroyed by the High Council.

They commended Joshua and Neku on their bravery. Neku was posthumously awarded Angelic status, and Hanekoma kept the paperwork for it in his desk at the café.

Sometimes, there were no happy endings.

Sho knew this. He had seen it.

But, as he walked past the primary school of two precious souls bound together by fate, he also knew that sometimes, happy endings do happen, it just took longer to get to them.

“Neku, Neku!” A childish voice called, right before a thump and a ouch.

The now black-haired youth darted over to help the blonde boy up. “Joshua, are you okay?”

“Mmhm! Look! It’s that one guy!”

Sho waved as he passed, much to the pleasure of the two giggling children.

Yes, Joshua could still see the Game, and because of his time in Joshua’s care, so could Neku.

The future was uncertain for both of them, and for each and every soul within the walls of Shibuya, but Sho would make sure that each tender soul would grow and add to the orchestral performance of his most loved, most precious city.

It would be the perfect formula for a happy ending.


End file.
